Fool's Paradise
by Legendary Chocobo
Summary: Pristine beaches? Check. Exotic locations? Check. Fighting, destruction, and Sin? ...Check. This is one paradise you don't want to vacation in - but it seems Erin is going to learn this the hard way, fighting both fiend and friend alike... OC, no pairs.
1. Envisioning

**Hello! Thanks so much for clicking! You've made my ego grow! And, um, found a new story to read… yay…. Heheh.**

_**First off**_**! This is a remake of my ol' first fic, **_**Alright, Who Spiked My Drink? **_**In case you didn't notice the word **_**remake**_**, you don't have to read the old one to understand this! This note is just for those amazing people who read AWSD and came here looking for the awesome :D Love you people! Mwah! **

_**Second of all**_**: There is a distinct LACK of mary-sues here! OMG, like, yayz! I've evened out my characters a lot since AWSD (P.S. Lark has a new name. I am having trouble mentally referring her as this new name, but I will manage), and I consider myself a pro now B) But maybe I'm a little arrogant. Anyway. **

**The feel of this story is a liiiiitle less humorous compared to AWSD, but AWSD was sort of cracky anyway…. This is a bit more serious. Don't worry, it's still funny :D It will just have some sober moments as well, especially in the beginning. Wouldn't you be a little serious if you suddenly were thrown into a video game with no known way back? :3**

**I have two chapters written including this one. I won't post the next one until I finish this one, unless a very long amount of time passes and I am desperate or something like that. Worst case scenario, you know? So yeah. Workin' on numero tres!**

**Pointless disclaimer is pointless. Me no owny. Bleh. This shan't be repeated in any other chapters, so if you want to find the disclaimer, look no further. Literally.**

**Words: 2,384**

**Right, so…. ONWARD!**

* * *

_**Fool's Paradise**_

_C__hapte_r _O__n_e_: __**E**__nvisioning_

_Imagination;_

_Its mysterious allure_

_Traps every man's soul._

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_Sometimes, you've got to wonder what life really is about. Why we're all here. What we're supposed to do. And whether we'll ever succeed in completing the goal of whatever this mysterious 'meaning of life' must be._

_That sounded pretty deep, didn't it? Ha, I guess it did! But that was sort of the point, right? As my dumb old English teacher always told me: hook your reader. Starting off with something to catch your attention; and it did, didn't it? But hey, I'm getting off topic already. It's not like I'm here to talk about ol' Mrs. Felling. I never was good at staying on a topic anyway, but, right; that's not the point. The point is that I'm seriously reconsidering my life choices thus far._

_Video gaming in any spare time I had that wasn't filled with friends or volleyball? Not the best choice I ever made. And not for the reasons people would expect. No, it sucks to admit it, but I regret playing video games, and not because they ruined my life. Well, I guess they kind of did, but not like that. I'm not some bum just kicked out of college and broke because I spent all my money on a PS Vita or something; instead, I get the pleasure of explaining to you guys: "Yeah, mom, dad, I know I should have listened to you. Now I'm stuck in a video game that I never should have played and my life is over and I feel like crap, so could you please stop looking at me like you're disappointed in me?" _

_So you must be wondering what the heck I'm going on about, right? Sure, that's understandable. I did kind of go missing and most likely totally freaked you guys out, y'know? Let's start over; that was the point of this diary – erm, journal, because I definitely don't have a diary, okay? – to explain how I got here, for my parents, you guys. Well, and my friends, and anyone, really. So they'll know what happened to me, even if I don't make it back to them myself. I don't know how this'll reach them… you… but I guess all I can hope for is that you guys get it. Right, Mom? Dad? _

_It feels weird talking like this will get to you. Like it's anything more than a journal to record my travels. But hey. There's still hope. I'll get through this. I'll get this to you, no matter what it takes._

_This is my story._

_(Great, now I feel like I'm ripping off Tidus.)_

_Signed in blood (Haha, just kidding, guys)_

_Your baby girl, Erin._

* * *

It all began, I think, the second time I tried to play Final Fantasy X. I'd never liked that game as much as I liked, say, Kingdom Hearts, but hey. It had been a while. I was bored. It was something to do, you know?

Wait. No, it didn't quite start there. Yeah, that was definitely part of it, but there was something else. I think I had just gotten past Baaj and met Rikku when the _first _thing happened. It hadn't seemed important at first, but as things have been accelerating lately, I'm starting to think more and more on this.

It all began the day after I restarted Final Fantasy X, a sunny Monday morning in southern California. I was at school, and my English class was in the library for research on an essay we were doing. Lyssa and I – yes, Mom; Lyssa, the one you don't approve of – were sitting at a table with some books, pretending to be reading when we were really just goofing off. I'm kind of embarrassed about what we were talking about.

"Alright, alright, alright. What about _him_?" Lyssa chortled, clutching her abdomen as she pointed carelessly in the direction of a pudgy, somewhat red-faced freshman in one corner of the library. We were both happily ignoring the disapproving eyes of the librarian and also failing at remaining incognito. I noticed Ms. Dunn – I can't remember if it was Miss or Missus or what, so I'll just use Ms. — our English teacher, starting to look in our direction, but only barely. My reply to Lyssa came quickly.

"Briefs, definitely." We both dissolved into laughter, which finally drew the teacher's attention. Ms. Dunn, scowling grouchily, strutted over to our table like a bird with its feathers ruffled. She kind of looked like one, with her hair.

"Keep talking amongst yourselves, girls, and I'll give you both a D for the Research portion of your paper," she warned, eyes cold and flinty; the kind of eyes that could kill. Both of us grew silent, with Lyssa trying to hide a roguish smile. When the elderly woman hobbled back to her table to grade more papers, I made a face at her back. Dumb old witch.

"Okay, okay. What about that guy; boxers or briefs?" my best friend questioned mischievously under her breath. I elbowed her in the side. We both opened our books, reluctantly, and took some notes until finally Ms. Dunn's eyes stopped darting over to our table to check on us. I took the initiative to start a new conversation.

"Oh, hey. I started FF10 again," I stated casually. Lyssa made a face.

"Again? C'mon, you know FF7 has gotta be _so _much better!" the brunette complained, again trying to convert me to her side.

"Dude, Seven has _terrible _graphics," I rebutted for the millionth time. "I am not playing a game where the main character is a stick figure with a chocobo's butt for hair."

"Fine, fine," the teenager relented. She and I both knew she wouldn't let up, though. Lyssa was a social gamer – she loved to talk with people about her games. I guess I was the same way, but hey, it's always fun to talk about your favorite things, right? "So how far along are you?"

"I'm almost at Besaid. Just gotta cook me up some squid."

"Wha—?" Lyssa asked, befuddled. When clarity was bestowed upon her through further thought, her face morphed into a smirk. "Oh, _I _see what you did there. You clever East-Coaster, you." I scowled at the nickname, quickly starting up a complaint.

"Oh, come on, just because I'm not technically a local—"

"Calm down, bro. It's not much of an insult for you, anyway. You love that place."

"Well yeah, I used to live there. East Coast for the _win_, dude."

Somehow after that, I think we got off the topic of Final Fantasy. Well, not that I was trying to talk about Final Fantasy in particular, but… you know what I mean. But sometime later, we ended up back on the topic again. This time, it stayed that way for a while. We were…. pretty _loud_ about it, which is probably why our grade was so bad on that paper. As well as why everything turned out as it did – I don't think I'd be here now if this damn conversation hadn't been overheard.

"Okay, okay. Wakka and Lulu," I chuckled. We were, of course, talking about pairings between Final Fantasy characters. More specifically, pairing babies. Yeah. It came up somehow – I'm not really sure _how, _exactly. It was a pretty weird conversation, in total. We seemed to quiz each other on things like this often.

"Ew. Can you imagine those two together?" said Lyssa disbelievingly, an expression of distaste on her features. I paused, giving some thought to the two.

"Well, kinda."

"…Ew." I rolled my eyes, but ignored her dismissal, urging her to answer the question. "Yeah, yeah, alright," my friend complied with a wave of her hand. "It would definitely have Lulu's looks; can you imagine a baby that looks like Wakka?"

"Oh, that's mean." I didn't sound very offended; in fact, I was laughing a little.

"Well, it's true. Cowlick central, man."

"I still think it would have Wakka's hair _color_, at least. Right? Red hair is a dominant gene thing… or whatever… I think…." As you could see, this wasn't one of my brightest moments; I don't know much about genes, and I never have. I prefer to learn about other things… err, mostly sports. What can I say? I'm an athlete through and through.

Lyssa snorted, and most likely not due to my lack of knowledge in the science of DNA, as she was no more educated in that subject.

"Can you imagine a baby Lulu with orange hair?"

"Oh, _geez_! Lulu and orange do _not _mix, dude!"

We dissolved into laughter, and the conversation soon switched to another, equally-harmless topic. At the time, neither of us realized what crazy stuff we had inspired. We were just a couple of decidedly geeky teenagers, messing around when we were supposed to be working. Were we really that special? No. We were nothing more than specks on the Earth's surface. But it didn't take long for everything to begin to spiral out of our control…

* * *

I first noticed it a few days after the conversation with Lyssa. I hadn't played Final Fantasy X since then, having been too busy with homework and volleyball and chores and all that stuffto really sit down and play some games. But I realized, as I settled in my ultra-plush bean bag chair to play FFX one Saturday afternoon, that there was something different about my game.

The beginning scene seemed changed somehow. I couldn't put my finger on it. You know, that part where they're all sitting around the campfire in Zanarkand?

I'd already hit Start to skip it by the time I actually detected it – go me for thinking before acting, right? I'm kind of impulsive; it really helps in sports, you know. Unfortunately, it definitely didn't help me in this situation. By the time the screen faded and began to open to the Start menu, I'd dropped my controller and begun staring intensely at the TV, brows drawn together, _certain_ that I had seen something different in that snatch of Zanarkand scene.

"What the…"

I realized that I had missed whatever it must have been, and frustration welled up inside me. But it didn't take long for me to decide that I must have just been seeing things; it wasn't like it _could _change, y'know? It was a preprogrammed disc…

So I thought.

Out of sight, out of mind – I quickly decided to let it go, and hit the 'Load' option. Within an hour or so, I had finished off that squid in the Submerged Ruins and reached Besaid uninterrupted. I hadn't noticed anything else out of the ordinary, except that some of the graphics seemed a bit twitchy – like every once in a while, out of the corner of my eye, I'd notice one of the huts flicker, or a random NPC mysteriously vanish.

I wasn't really sure those NPCs were even there – I never paid attention to them, anyway, and they _all looked the freaking same_ – and the flickering I could just pass off as a scratch on the disc or something. It was a used copy, after all. I let it slide. I let it all slide.

I reached the part just before the hero heroically galloped into the Cloister to save the summoner when Mom called from downstairs, claiming that dinner was ready. A glance at the clock told me that an hour and a half had passed since I'd sat down to play the PS2; with a grin, I told myself I had made good progress. Deciding to give it up for the night, I saved, switched off the game, and headed downstairs.

I should have just left it there, never picked it up again. Left it to rot, for all I care now. It would have prevented this whole mess.

Or would it? If it wasn't me, would the fate just fall to some other unlucky soul?

Sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself again, aren't I?

I went through the usual nightly routine after dinner – check Facebook, brush my teeth, take a shower. Etcetera, etcetera. The next morning was Sunday, and sometime around noon I had the urge to play Final Fantasy X again. I wish I hadn't.

Gah, enough with my retrospective foreshadowing, or whatever it is. I'm starting to sound angsty. Not to mention dramatic.

I picked up the game where I had left off, but unfortunately forgot about the weird sensation I got when the opening played yesterday – so I skipped the opening again, and cursed once I'd loaded my game. But I didn't particularly feel like starting the whole PS2 over just to see the opening, so I continued onward.

I watched with amusement as the main character, Tidus, gallivanted into the Cloister of Trials to save the female lead, whom he had never met – Yuna. I breezed through the trials; not because I particularly remembered them, but because I had always been rather good with puzzles and the Besaid Trials were really easy, anyway. Then, as Tidus entered the area with the elevator and Wakka caught up with him, things began to get a bit… weird.

I swore I saw someone in the corner of the little room with the elevator; just a vague shape, but one that was definitely humanlike. Before I could tell what or who it was, the elevator had begun moving and Tidus and Wakka had engaged in conversation. But I knew I saw something there. I paused the game in my shock, wishing that I could rewind the game to see just what that had been. I mean, I didn't remember every detail of the game, but I at least remembered the important stuff. And a person creepily watching Tidus and Wakka as they entered the room before the fayth? That definitely would have been filed under 'important.' But I didn't recall it happening before.

Frowning, I realized this was the second time I noticed something distinctly off about my game. I gave the TV screen a bemused glance, and decided to play that part over again. Maybe I would check out the opening, too. My fingers connected with the button marked 'Reset' on my (sort of crappy, if you ask me) slim PS2.

The world spun.

* * *

**So. Pretty different, eh AWSD fans? Don't worry, though Lark – erm, Erin… is a bit less genre-savvy, and far less obsessed, she's still about as loveable as before. Still pretty ADD, too… and now, obsessed with sports. She spoke to me, I swear. SHE MADE **_**HERSELF**_**!**

**But that's a good sign, right? …Right?**

**As for newcomers, how was it? Lookin-forward-to-the-next-chapter good? Will-totally-kill-to-read-more good? Flame-giving bad? Must-go-on-Sue-killing-**_**rampage**_** bad? (Alright, let's be honest. I just said all that because I like making specific examples and such. B) Eh, so sue me.)**

**A tad angsty with the narration, but this is Erin being all retrospective. It lessens as we go on and she gets more into the story, don't worry! And it's true, slim PS2s usually are crappy. I have one, I would know :( Buy me a good one, please, _someone!_ D:**

**Aaaaand I talk too much. I would love reviews, even though I always said I would never sink to begging for them. But hey, if you don't ask, it makes you at least 7% less likely to get reviews! (And of course, 90% of statistics, such as that one, are made up on the spot. Eh.)**


	2. Existence

**Fastish, right? :D**

**Thank you to all my lovely reviewers (all 2 of you) and those who favorited or put me/this story on alert. I read reviews, I get really happy and start writing more. No, seriously. For realz.**

**Words: 2,820**

**No need to drag out the inevitable. Onward!**

* * *

_**-Fool's Paradise-**_

_**C**__hapter T__wo: __**E**__xistence_

* * *

_Violets are red,_

_Roses are blue._

_I don't exist,_

_And neither do you._

The first thing I was aware of was warmth. Not the warmth of the indoors, of blankets and artificially heated air, but of the tropical sun beating down on my back and pervading my eyelids, turning my vision orange-red. The second thing I noticed was that I ached all over, especially between my shoulders. It was worse than the beginning of volleyball season – and let me tell you, _that _is hell unless you've been playing all year before then. At least I didn't do cross-country or something _really _painful like that.

I cringed, my nose itching as I breathed in the scent of the ocean – and sand. Lots of sand. I was laying on it, my face pressed against its hot white grains; I could tell, mostly, because I nearly snorted the fine, gritty crap. I blearily opened my eyes, already way past confused, and winced again as I tried to use my sore arms to push my torso off of the baked sand. It seemed I was in a cove of some sort, and currently I was laying in the shade of a small bluff. The sun still managed to make my eyes water, despite the cool relief of the bluff's shadow. Squinting against the bright light, I spun my gaze around the landscape.

Something was seriously wrong here.

I couldn't fully remember what I'd been doing before I got here – had I been watching TV? Playing sports? Doing chores? – but I knew this wasn't my house. If you ask me, it didn't even look like California, but it wasn't like I'd seen all of California, anyway. Still, somehow the water seemed too blue, too calm and picturesque. The air was too fresh, too thin. The beach, too pristine. Something just didn't sit right with this scene.

I groaned as I sat up and, to further my discomfort, attempted to stand. My muscles creaked in protest, but I ignored them in favor of getting my face away from the sand.

As I put my head in my palm to quell the oncoming headache, a light flashed in my mind.

I knew what I had been doing before I found myself who-knows-how-far away from my home. I had been playing a video game. A remarkably legendary video game, but a video game nonetheless. Final Fantasy X.

And more importantly, as well as far more disturbingly, there was something in between trying to reset my PS2 and waking up on some strange beach.

But… what?

I racked my brain for the elusive answer, but something seemed…. Fuzzy. I couldn't quite recall what had happened in that moment of in-between, or where it was, or even why I was finding it so difficult to remember.

An audible grunt of frustration left my throat as I strained to recall what filled that space, but no dice. All I was getting was something about a 'disturbance,' but nothing more elaborate than that. Possibly, it was a disturbance in the force. Maybe that was what caused me to end up possibly stranded on some_ random beach_ in the middle of _nowhere_!

Alright. Not the time for Star Wars references. Okay, then.

I shook my head, deeming the breach in memory unimportant compared to my current situation. Giving another cursory glance to my surroundings, I noticed a few constructs on the other side of the cove – a tent-like structure and some nets drawn over a wooden framework, if you'll excuse my scientific-sounding terms. There seemed to be a dock next to it, and what might have been some weird looking canoes. Something nudged my brain as I stared at the area, but I hadn't any clue what it might have been. I filed the feeling away for later – or, more truthfully, decided to forget about it until I was forcibly reminded.

_Alright! Civilization! _I thought at the little wharf, and the notion might have been more excited had I not been so hopelessly befuddled. My bare feet burned as I left the comfort of the shade, and I stumbled quickly toward the tents. It was possible that there were people nearby, and then they could tell me where I was, and then I could go home and forget this ever happened.

Well, excluding the minor issue that involved me wondering how the hell I had ended up who-knows-where on an immaculate beach rather than at home, playing video games by my lonesome, for the rest of my long life.

Oh, well.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I called as I scrambled across the hot sand, 'ow'ing and 'ouch'ing the whole way. There was no answer, so I danced into the shade of the little huts – sighing in relief as I did so – and poked my head in one of them. There was no one inside. "Heeeeello? Hm. No one…"

I checked behind the tent and even in some of the foliage behind the little cluster of manmade items. But there was nothing. The beach was deserted.

As I realized this, the air suddenly felt a lot heavier. I stared at the emptiness, eyebrows drawing together and a frown forming on my lips. A pang of loneliness joined the already-chaotic tumult of confusion and fear that held reign over my mind. Biting my lip, I hesitantly entered the tent, giving the area one last anxious glance. There was nothing, no one. I was alone, wherever I was. I didn't like being alone even under normal circumstances….but certainly not when I had no idea where I was or how I got there.

Baffled and, admittedly, a little scared, I sat on the cold sand beneath the canvas and put my head on my knees. A headache was beginning to form behind my eyes, and the sore muscles between my shoulders groaned as I wrapped my arms around my legs.

I sat there for a little while, feeling confused and sorry for myself. For a time, I considered how I might have ended up here, or where 'here' was. The farthest I got on the former was 'drugged and kidnapped,' which I had to admit was unlikely, and the only thing I could come up with for the second was 'somewhere tropical.' Specific answers for a specific situation, I mused grimly.

The only way I could think of to get out of this place, and hopefully to some sort of civilization, was to either take a boat (which there obviously wasn't one) or go off into the nearby jungle (which seemed rather dangerous). It wasn't like I could swim my way out, y'know? But I really didn't plan on doing either of the first two options Maybe if I waited, someone would come find me. Maybe, I thought, I'd be rescued.

I continued to think this was for perhaps an hour before hunger, loneliness, and the itch to solve this mystery got the better of me. I needed food. Water. People. I lifted my head from my knees, wiping away the few tears that had threatened to spill, and sighed. Since there was still clearly no boat, as I realized when I finally shook the sand off my khakis and peered outside my hideaway, it seemed I would be going with Option B. The jungle.

I grimaced as I left the shade of the tent. Slowly, I padded across the sand toward the end of the cove, though I couldn't help yelping and breaking into a run when the mid-afternoon heat finally registered with my feet. I stubbornly tried to ignore the small voice in the forefront of my mind that kept listing off all the dangerous things that resided within jungles – poisonous plants, jaguars, poison ivy, poisonous frogs, leeches, poisonous snakes, tigers, poison oak…. A _lot_ of poisonous things, actually. I gave a shudder mid-step, rubbing my shoulder as I slowed to a walk at the shaded vale leading to the jungle.

_Don't think about it… _I told myself shakily, looking at my feet. I took a deep breath as the sand ended and the dirt began. Giving myself a mental kick in the butt, I forced myself to start walking into the forest – but I didn't hesitate to pick up a sufficiently hardy-looking stick to defend myself with.

It might not cure poison, but at least it would handle the jaguars…

* * *

My first steps into the jungle did not go well. Only a few minutes in, I had already stepped on a dozen sharp rocks and tripped over at least two roots – I was pretty sure my toe was bleeding slightly, too. I hissed and cursed at the roughhewn forest floor, kicking at a tree and yelping when it stubbed my toe. Okay, it was official. I absolutely hated nature.

"Alright," I grumbled. "I need to do something about this lack of shoes…" I leaned on my stick as I glanced around at the forest floor, looking for something to make a shoe out of. Or, at least something to wrap around my foot. Didn't blood attract wild animals, anyway? Yeah, dripping toe-blood everywhere was definitely not a good idea in the jungle. I hoped to find some vines or something, because I could wrap that around my foot for a makeshift shoe – and I did. Draped over a particularly wide and moss-covered tree branch was a thick, lurid emerald vine that, despite its absurdly rich shade of green, seemed to blend in perfectly with the rest of this green jungle. I grinned at it, because with any luck I might have been able to get it loose and wind it around my aching, exposed feet. A wrapped vine might make for a bumpy shoe, but anything was better than going without.

I approached the vine cautiously, first checking for any nearby snakes; there didn't seem to be any thin, sleek reptiles slithering about, so I wrapped my hands around the vine. It was about as thick as my wrist, which I deemed to be quite large for a normal vine. Getting a good grip on the thing, I gave a harsh tug.

Nothing. It barely even swayed, let alone tore loose.

I gave it another pull, and then another for good measure, but to no avail. Growling at the plant, I contemplated tearing at it with my teeth – but then decided that I'd probably get malaria or something. I scowled at it and settled for a few particularly cushy leaves I'd found laying on the forest floor, which actually seemed to make a far more comfortable shoe than the vine might have.

I continued on, a little awkwardly due to my improvised pair of shoes.

It wasn't long before I came upon a bend and was forced to stop immediately in my shock. The green and brown forest floor split into two distinct paths. However, this was not what had me standing frozen in place, openly gaping. Rather, this was due to the appearance of some sort of rusted metal contraption jutting out from a hillock in the center of the junction.

"A machine…?"

I nearly dropped my stick as I approached the strange, out-of-place structure, but instead I kept a firm grasp of it and prodded the rusted thing with the jagged, wooden end of my branch. The device didn't respond, of course, but for a tiny shower of rust dust fluttering toward the forest floor as my stick scraped along the metal.

To find a machine in a place that seemed as natural and pristine as this, albeit one that probably hadn't been used for a thousand years was… surreal. I had already become so used to the brilliant jade and rich chestnut of the forest, the sparkling cerulean of the sea, the vivid azure of this clear sky; to see rust and metal and decay just seemed so… odd all of a sudden. I prodded it again with my stick to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

Something else nudged me as I stared in disbelief at the contraption, and this time, I didn't just let it go. I knew I'd seen this somewhere. Face contorting with this enigma, I took a few slow steps back and took in the whole picture. A path leading upward, a path leading to the right. Vines and leaves and green life everywhere, trodden dirt (that was a good sign, I noted absently at this point – it made it more likely that there were people here) and a couple of metal _things _rusted with age.

This time it was less of a nudge and more of a smack to the face.

This looked almost exactly like a place in Final Fantasy X. A portion of Besaid Island – and come to think of it, that beach looked just like the one Tidus ended up on. Trust me, I'd only played past it a day or two prior. I would know.

And this was, of course, impossible.

Because Besaid Island didn't exist.

…Well, there might have been an island called Besaid on Earth at some point, but it obviously wasn't the same island. Earth Besaid probably would have been some primitive society based on occult religion and sacrifice and stuff…. which I just now realize is exactly what FFX Besaid is…. Meh.

But I digress.

I could not be here right now. Besaid Island was a place dreamed up by some brilliant video game designer, not an actual place that one could see and touch. There was no Yevon. There were no aeons. There was no Zanarkand, no Spira_._

"W…what the hell?" I whispered hoarsely, holding my stick aloft and, unable to stop myself, tapping the rusted metal again. It didn't phase through. It didn't waver like a hologram. It didn't show any sign of being a figment of my imagination but for the simple fact that it just _could not exist. _"Where am I?" I demanded of the air, narrowing my eyes at the ancient 'machina.' My voice wavered with those words, but on the next it was stronger. "What kind of _sick joke_ is this?"

I couldn't help but glance around for hidden cameras that I knew I wouldn't find.

Possible explanations flashed through my mind at light speed. Hallucinogens, overconsumption of alcohol, a vivid dream, a particularly elaborate episode of _Punk'd_…

I'm sort of ashamed to say… but I even considered aliens for a second. I don't even _believe _in aliens! Thinking back on it, it was a bit irrational; I knew I was completely freaking out, but I couldn't stop it. When you wake up to find yourself in… a video game… well, you'll think up all kinds of crazy rationalizations. _Anything_ but the truth – because, honestly, the truth is just _too _out there. _Too _impossible. _Too _crazy.

"I must be dreaming…"

I had to be, I thought. But I knew that I'd never had detailed dreams. Not once in my life.

I sank into a crouch, hugging my knees to my chest and letting my stick simply fall to the forest floor. This was way worse than waking up on an unknown beach all alone. At least then I thought I had a chance of finding my way back home, back to that dinky little town in southern California. But _here…. _This was a whole different world. This was Spira. Could I really manage to get from some other _dimension_, with magic and swords and all that jazz, back to my polluted, technological world?

The answer was lost – for before I could even continue that train of thought, a war cry ripped through the birdcalls and bugsong that hummed through Besaid's jungle…

My head shot up fast enough to give me whiplash. I froze in place immediately. Before I could even begin to register what that strange sound had been, all I saw was a harsh red-brown blur – different from the dark, sweet neutral tones of the soil and the trees – speeding towards my face at an unavoidable rate. At the last moment my knees buckled and I flopped to the ground, the blur rushing over me to land at my back. After a few seconds of utter shock, I scrabbled for my stick and scrambled on the forest floor to turn toward whatever that _thing _was.

Instantly, I shrank back in revulsion.

The beast was, as the noun suggests, animalistic in appearance – not to mention demonic. Beady red eyes glowed from sunken sockets and grisly yellow teeth were bared in a feral snarl. It was grossly emaciated, with its ribs showing beneath its patchy fur and a thin layer of mottled white skin. Its spindly vertebrae stuck up in a macabre ruff along its back. It looked nothing like a canine of Earth, with its ghastly expression and its jagged, torn claws; I gagged at the smell of its breath, fearfully rushing to my feet as the monster growled low in its throat.

I had encountered my first real fiend of Spira – the Besaid dingo.

* * *

**I just love the chapter after this. :D**

**So, has anyone noticed that I actually have a plot? Like, a REAL, ACTUAL plot that isn't just 'stick an OC in and see what happens,' that I've thought out and wrote some stuff down for and everything? IKR, IT'S SO WEIRD FOR ME, TOO!**

**Toodles! Reviews are like candy, except that having too many doesn't make you unhealthy, just really, **_**really**_** happy. I do **_**love**_** candy. *purrs***


	3. Elusion

**Hey, people! (Yep, it's me! I've changed my name. I like change sometimes.) Thank you very much to those who reviewed, favorite, alerted, etc., and thank you very much for continuing to read!**

**Words: 1,943 (Aw. It's shorter!)**

**Bah. These poems are getting on my nerves. I don't wanna write more poetry… D: Anyway. I bring words. You like words, yes? :D**

* * *

_**Fool's Paradise**_

_**C**__hapte_r _**T**__hree: __**E**__lusion_

* * *

_A battle to end all others,_

_A journey to begin once again,_

_A bloodbath, a mortal's wrath,_

_And a salvation like no other_

Our gazes each tore into the other's as we stood, eye to eye (at least, as close as you could get between and bipedal creature and a quadruped), toe to toe… or would it be toe to claw?

The dingo was fearsome, I'd give it that. Really, I'd give it a hell of a lot _more_ than that, but that's just me. I clutched at my stick like a lifeline, knuckles white and sweat beginning to soak my palms already. I wasn't a fighter. Sure, I tried fencing in third grade. And sure, I stuck at it for, what, a year maybe? The instructor said I had an okay stance and quick reflexes, but poor grip, dreadful attacks, and a horrible knack for hitting things too hard. If I remember correctly, he didn't word it quite so kindly.

Maybe that last one would come in handy here, but the others would probably counteract it. Yeah, so, that (_extremely rude_) instructor was likely the reason I quit.

I was torn from these thoughts and didn't even have the time to gulp before suddenly the dingo let loose a feral snarl and leapt again – I think it was only those 'quick reflexes' that kept me from becoming kibble as I stumbled to the side and lashed out wildly with my stick, hoping to catch some flesh. The sound of wood connecting with meaty bone seemed to echo in the verdant expanse of wild life as my branch clocked the dingo in the jaw, midflight.

I had to flinch at the hurt yelp that came from its snout, so unlike the harsh growls of its offensive nature. Despite the dingo's appearance, the sounds it made were awfully similar to that of Earth's dogs.

The dingo managed to land on all four feet and as soon as its paws touched earth, it whipped around to face me once again. I tried hopelessly to take on a defensive stance as the creature came rushing toward me again – and lo and behold, it helped. Just barely, I caught the creature on my makeshift blade just before its claws – or worse, its fangs – came into contact with my vulnerable flesh. Staggering from the sudden weight of dingo on a stick (Yummy, right? They should totally start selling that stuff during carnivals.), I tried to throw it off – but it just slipped from my branch and past my defenses.

"Oh shi—"

The creatures disgusting yellow incisors ripped past my thin, black sweatpants and sank into my calf.

_Holy freaking Batman that fu— oh my god, ow!_

Somehow I'd had the _marvelous_ idea of trying to shake the thing off.

My knee buckled and my entire body trembled as its fangs sank deeper and I immediately ceased all attempts to "shake it off." For a moment I stood there, shaking and watching the dingo that was watching me watching him with eyes filled with fury (The dingo's, I mean. _Mine_ were beginning to fill with tears. Yippee.) Obviously, trying to break free wouldn't work…. So instead, I put more effort into giving the fiend a nice concussion in farewell.

The first few were pathetic. I whimpered as it growled low in its throat, sending vibrations into my pulsating wound. Its jaws tightened a fraction, and I jolted at the sudden flare of pain that ripped through the bite. But this was, unfortunately for the dingo, the _last fricking straw._

"Get – your – stupid – filthy – fangs – _out – of – me!_" I yelled, growing louder and more violent with each word, which was punctuated with another swing at the foul beast's back. I shrieked aloud as it gave my leg a small shake as if to say '_Mine now, bitch!_' just like my neighbor's dog would shake his chew toy during tug-of-war_. _How macabre….

"_Hey, wait, did you guys hear something?_"

I didn't notice the distant voices somewhere in the brush behind me and my furry companion. Instead, I had noticed something quite interesting in my struggle for survival.

"_Oh – I think I heard someone scream!_"

My stick had a slightly sharp end, I realized.

With this fact in mind, I didn't even bother to hesitate to shove that little pointy bit into the most susceptible part of the monster I could reach – the side of its fleshy neck. Instinct blotted out all other emotions, morals, and ideals. All I could do was just… just _do. _

"_It's coming from that way!"_

Immediately the beast's jaws slackened, a spurt of ruby blood arcing through the air as I tore my stick from its tissue. Immediately after that, the creature gave a pitiful whine and I simply kicked it away as best I could with my injured leg and my stick, unable to muster any sympathy while such horrible, burning bloody pain ripped through my mangled limb. I sank to the ground and stared in shock at the red wound I'd received for my efforts in surviving out here, the scarlet liquid gushing from my own veins. Blood_. _

Tears began to blur my vision as the injury throbbed and I tried vainly to cover the dumb thing up with something. I had to stop the blood; that was all I knew to do, the full extent of my survival skills.

_Blood, blood, blood_.

Murky blood leaked from the dingo's scruffy corpse.

Crimson blood stained my leg and the ground and my sweaty hands.

_Blood, blood, blood_.

Water was flowing freely from my puffy eyes now – and quickly, the skin of my face was turning red, too. I patted at my wound piteously, trying to figure out what to do. It hurt, it hurt, _it hurt_. Did I wrap it? With what? Did I wash it? Did I somehow find some Cure materia and wish it away?

Oh, right. This wasn't Final Fantasy VII. Too bad….

"_Hey… there's someone over here!_"

I blinked as the tears fell, turning away from my own crimson river for a moment to look at the one flowing from the dingo. I had never killed a real animal before, I noted numbly. At least, if you could call a structure made from the souls of the dead resembling a twisted sort of beast inside a video game a 'real animal.'

I wondered. Did it hurt for the dingo, too? Did it hurt to die like that?

I cringed, rocking back and forth and cradling my calf and gritting my teeth against the agony. Beside me, the dingo's blood was beginning to evaporate into pink and green, a few prismatic orbs slowly shedding off its still corpse. Voices came through the underbrush, but I had already squeezed my eyes shut against the tears, exhaustion crawling over me to cover the pain.

"_Yuna–!_"

"_There's someone here – she's hurt!_"

Hell _yes_, I was hurt. I thought this numbly, not even realizing that rescue might be on the way – I was too out of it. It _hurt_, and so badly that it was all I could do not to scream and cry and hit things.

"_Is that a fien…_"

"_Cure!_"

"…_alright, ya?..._"

"_Should we…."_

"…_may be a good idea… Yuna?_"

"_Ye…._"

…I must have blacked out from the pain.

* * *

Once again, when I finally awoke I was warm – but definitely _not_ in a good way.

My leg was hot; infuriatingly so. Itchy flames licked at my left calf; not so much as to be called 'really really freaking _ow_,' but definitely distracting and a tiny bit painful. More like a sarcastic 'ouch, that is _so_ painful, _really_.' Despite this, I cringed and shifted, trying to find a position that would keep me off of that flame – but it was almost as though it came from myself… _how_ _odd_, I noted with a slight sense of confusion and more than a teaspoon full of irritation.

I noticed soon after this observation that I was also extremely sore – as though I'd just had a death match with some powerful enemy. Which was crazy, of course, as things like that didn't happen these days, on our good ol' Planet Earth. However, the fact remained that my body felt like a system of bones wrapped in gelatin, so as you might imagine, I really did want to go back to sleep.

The burning sensation did not help that.

I continued trying to fall back into that blissful, painless state for a few more minutes before it became too much. Giving in to the sensation's insistence on keeping me awake, I sat up with some difficulty, opened my eyes, and began to examine my leg – at least, I would have, had I not noticed the floor suddenly moving beneath me, my stomach leaning along with it.

I squawked, clutching at the uncomfortable cot I seemed to be laying on in order to keep myself from flipping off the bed, but no luck. I tumbled headfirst off the cot, a blanket following my demise and a yelp rising in my throat. (At that moment, I also remembered what had happened and which world I was in; needless to say, it did _not_ make me feel better.)

With this, I decided I was on a boat. I then decided that I hated boats.

"Oh! You're awake!" A voice gasped, and I glanced up from my position on the floor to see…

_A hallucination? An actor? A ghost?_

Yuna.

"How do you feel?" she asked, much like a nurse at a hospital might ask a patient who had just gone through surgery. Her sleeves trailed behind her as she hurried to help me stand, both of us wobbling when the boat pitched again.

"Um…" I was at a loss for words as I slowly accepted the brunette's aid, unable to believe that she was here.

"Oh! I'm sorry. My name is Yuna. We found you collapsed in the jungle, and we couldn't return you to Besaid or the ship might have left without us… so we brought you onto the ship with us," she explained sheepishly. I think I only stared at her, wide-eyed. I do remember cautiously sitting down on the bunk with my feet still firmly planted on the wooden floor, completely unresponsive; but that was okay, because she continued speaking. "We assumed you weren't going toward the village… Was that alright? If you weren't heading for the beach, we can pay for your passage back to Besaid…."

"Uh…" I tried to reply, only to find that my throat seemed too dry to speak. I swallowed thickly. This couldn't be happening. "Um, no… this is fine. I was headed for…" I had to resist the urge to rub my eyes in disbelief before spitting out the first city that came to mind, "I was heading for Luca, anyway…"

"Really?" the brunette replied pleasantly. "It is very lucky that we found you, then. We're going that way, as well. Oh; I healed your wounds, by the way. Or… I tried to… I could only get it to stop bleeding and scab over, so the rest will probably have to heal on its own. Lulu said that you must be very resilient to magic."

It just wasn't possible. Here I was, having a pleasant chat with the main heroine of Final Fantasy X in a world that didn't exist on a boat that was powered by giant yellow birds, having just been half-healed by a magic spell after nearly getting my leg eaten by a creature made of the rainbow-colored souls of the dead. It was enough to give anyone a migraine, and of course, it did.

Give me a migraine, I mean.

"I… thanks…" I whispered, unable to muster anything more eloquent.

Yuna smiled.

* * *

**Rather dark. I somewhat like writing dark, even if reading it makes me tired and sad.**

**I've noticed this story is lacking in humor compared to the old one, especially this chapter (And yes, KB, you have certainly helped me notice this x3 That's okay, you're right anyway.) so I'm trying to work more in :D The next chapter is definitely more sarcastic, fun, etc… even if it's a bit of a filler Dx It involves a bit of O'aka! :D **

**Reviewssss are nicccce. I am ssssspeaking like Orrrroccccchimaru… It'sssss rather fun. Happy Mother's Day, by the way! Unless, like… you don't celebrate Mom's Day when America does. Well, then, happy Mom's day whenever you have it! If you have it! :D**


	4. Embark

**Yay, a new chapter! A bit slow this time; I've been putting off working on the next one T.T Still have about ¾ of the next one to finish… but I feel like it's been too long. Guess I'll just have to work faster for the next one? D:**

**Words: 2,258 (Longer! Oh yeah!)**

**(EDIT: Bringin' in this chapter's poem. Was gonna leave the poems out, but has decided not to ;D This one's foreshadowy).**

* * *

_**Fool's Paradise**_

_**C**__hapte_r _**F**__our: __**E**__mbark_

* * *

_A few moments' respite_

_May be all you have_

_Before chaos consumes._

Yuna had gone outside to the forefront of the ship to gaze out at the sea a few minutes ago – or, well, _try_ to gaze out at the sea. The masses of gossipy seafarers that had gathered around her made that a bit difficult, I presumed. That was okay with me. I didn't need another constant reminder that I was no longer on Earth; the elegant wooden ship surrounding me did well enough. I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest.

In the corner, a wide-shouldered man – I think he was dressed as a blitzball player – was upchucking out of a window. I almost wanted to join him, but I managed to keep the urge down. I brushed a few more hairs off my arm.

I had noticed a few minutes after Yuna left that there were blue hairs clinging to my clothes, and for a while the mystery provided no end of puzzlement. Who had blue hair? Seymour - but obviously that was _not _Seymour's hair. Cue disgusted shudder. Other than that, there was Kimahri. But why was Kimahri's hair on me? Well, obviously he must have been touching me. And not like that, in case any of my pervy friends ever reads this. (Yeah, you know who you are.) But why would Kimahri…?

I eventually decided that he must have carried me from the jungle to the ship. Yeah, Ronso were buff like that.

As I grumbled softly to myself a few minutes later, my leg itched. Again. It had finally stopped a few moments ago, for like, five minutes. Those minutes were some of the happiest minutes of my time on this horrible sea craft.

Leaning against the wall in an effort not to sit on that lumpy, smelly bed, I gave this sensation some thought, resisting the urge to scratch at the wound. I mean, wasn't that a good thing, that it was itching? Yuna had said she'd had trouble healing it with magic, but if it was beginning to itch… Well, didn't that mean my wound was healing? ...Hm. Well, I wasn't sure. What was I, a doctor? Obviously not. Can't deal with all the blood, _thanks_.

Oh, great. Sounded like I was getting snarky with myself.

I let loose a heavy sigh as I felt another headache beginning to pound against my skull – there had been a lot of them already, and it wasn't even a day after my arrival in… Spira…

I stopped immediately. At this place's name, this _Spira_, I forcefully shut down all thought processes; that simple word just reminded me of where I was and how clueless I was about how I got there – and even beginning to try to figure out this mess of a situation made me want to barf. Of course, the "pleasant" rocking of the boat did _not_ help that.

Speaking of which.

I grimaced as a large swell tipped the S.S. …whatever this boat's name happened to be… precariously to one side, and leaned haphazardly against the wall of the cabin (The poor blitzer in the corner gave a particularly horrid gag at that, but it seemed he was out of food to regurgitate). Just thinking of going upstairs, into the open salt air, completely surrounded by water… that made me want to barf, too. Seasickness: it was currently at the top of my complaint list. After all, it was either complaining about the boat, or complaining about waking up in _Spi_—I mean, well, y'know… um, complaining about my itchy, scabbed-over leg… heheh… heh.

Eventually, I just stopped thinking. Thinking made me sad, and no one likes being sad. I let my mind become blank, or as blank as I could in my situation. Of course… this allowed a horrible thing called 'boredom' to set in.

I tapped my foot against the floor for a few minutes, ignoring the poor convulsing blitzer who had somehow found more to upchuck through the porthole on the other side of the room as I racked my brain to think of what a 21st-century girl stuck on a primitive wooden boat run by big yellow chocobos was to do for fun. Throw stones into the ocean? Cloud-gaze? Poke a chocobo with a stick?

That last one might have been interesting, had I still had that good ol' stick that I used to–

Ah, right. Not an ordeal I wanted to relive. Okay, forgetting about the dingo.

Finally, I just decided to venture up on to the deck and find Tidus. From the game, he seemed like a prime target to annoy, and annoying someone was just what I needed right now. Forget that I would be outside, surrounded by the open water, constantly in danger of falling into the deep, dark abyss that was the ocean…

I shoved myself off the wall abruptly and limped toward the door leading to the… big, um, open part below the deck, inside the ship… What was that called again? Yeah. I decided it might be a brilliant idea to venture outside this little room before I lost my decidedly flighty nerve.

Unfortunately for my nerve, I had barely taken three steps out of the doorway when I was accosted by a man with an amazingly well-done Cockney accent…. And of course, I was totally ignoring the fact that Britain doesn't exist here, at all. Isn't that such a weird thought, by the way?

"Oh, another one!" the (admittedly) portly merchant exclaimed, approaching my position by the stairs with an air of extreme interest. Interest in _what_, exactly, I wasn't sure. He looked a little weighed down by all those bags on his back, and I wondered briefly why he carried them instead of putting them in his cabin or something. Oh, wait – this boat doesn't have personal cabins. Just a room full of lumpy, smelly cots to sleep in… On that note, ew… "Interesting clothes you've got there. Are they from the same place as that other chap's? They don't really look like the same make, but what do I know?"

He trailed off, and seemed to be examining my t-shirt – which, rather unfortunately, had the words 'Good things come to those who break clay pots' on it. Yeah, so I occasionally played Legend of Zelda. As I leaned cautiously away from the merchant's eye, I silently and fervently hoped that Spirans couldn't read English… Mostly just to avoid the awkward 'What does that even _mean?_' but hey, there had to be other upsides, right?

"Um…"

"Ah, now, what are those symbols there?" Question: answered. Spirans wrote in a different language. Did this mean I was illiterate here? I suddenly found it less fun to know English. The man continued speaking exuberantly, but he soon became irate when he noticed the dirt, the blood, the sand, and the dirt caked onto my pajamas. "And what fabric are these pants made of? – blast it, but these are all _filthy_, as well! What is it with you lot and not cleaning your clothes? I can't sell dirty clothes, not if I want to fetch a good price!"

"I, uh, wasn't going to give them to you anyway…?" I informed him a bit hesitantly, brushing some dust off the edge of my shirt. I had begun to feel slightly self-conscious all of a sudden. Come on, it wasn't my fault I'd been through Hell to get here… "I kind of, y'know… need them."

"Of course, of course," he grumbled sulkily, half turning to resume his position by the far wall. "They always do." I spoke up; not really sure why, now that I look back on it. Maybe it was just to find someone to have a conversation with. This guy had to be as good as any…

"So, erm… who are you again?"

Alright, alright, pause here. Let's be completely honest. I _seriously_ had forgotten his name. Hey, I hadn't played this part in, like, months. Don't judge.

It took a few seconds, but the merchant eventually responded in a prideful tone that seemed to have taken him a while to muster after my tentative dismissal.

"O'aka XXIII, merchant extraordinaire," the merchant, O'aka, recited with what might have been pride. "Soon enough, I'll be recognized all over the world, all over Spira!"

I paused.

Ah, _Spira_. Thanks for mentioning that, dude. Really. I mean, when I thought about their language and stuff I could at least half-pretend I was in a foreign country. But _the world_…

It kind of just made me feel small. And alone. I didn't quite like feeling either of those. Normally, I would hit someone in the face with a volley ball if they ever made me feel small and alone. Sadly, I wasn't sure that would work here, since I'm fairly sure O'aka didn't mean it that way.

I tried to hold in my expression of distaste at that thought of Spira. Giving a small grunt in reply to the merchant O'aka, I turned my back on him, not quite caring about how rude it was – and easily ignoring the man's slightly offended 'Hey!' – as I made for a decorative double door beside the wide stairway. I no longer wanted conversation. To be honest, I wanted to make like an angsty teenager and sulk.

I had forgotten about my original purpose of annoying a video game character and had simply decided to go view some chocobos by my lonesome. O'aka, grumbling under his breath behind me, must have somehow brushed off my snub, because he simply returned to his casual position by the stairs, and that was good. I didn't want to get into some sort of argument about his merchantizing prowess or whatever. He seemed huffy. I _was_ huffy.

The door before me was, like the rest of the ship, happily made of wood. Above it, extending in a rather ornamental arch, were runes that likely spelled out the words 'Power Room' in the Spiran language – but as we have established, I'm illiterate, so I couldn't have read it if I wanted to. I figured that I might as well catch a glimpse of my first chocobo while I was on this boat – for, after all, I had always wanted to pet one. Perhaps fulfilling that childhood dream would raise my spirits.

Before I could even lay a hand on the doorknob, the door opened abruptly. I nearly jumped at the surprise, and then I nearly gasped _aloud _in utter shock as _the Tidus himself _walked out. I mean, sure, he sort of almost hit me with that door, but, c'mon… _holy crap it was the main character of Final Fantasy X! THE Tidus!_

"Whoa!"

Okay. So I guess I sort of _did _gasp in shock. Whoopsies.

"Whoa – sorry!" the blond blitzer exclaimed as he exited the Power Room, just barely stopping himself from walking into me. I stumbled back a little, mentally wincing as I bent my leg wrong or something and stretched the scab. But this didn't bother me much. In fact, I completely ignored it. Left completely speechless, I kind of just stared at him.

_Okay, okay_, I told myself quickly after a few seconds of utter silence. _You've met Yuna. You've killed a fiend. You're meeting _the_ original Tidus right now and you have to keep your cool. KEEP YOUR COOL, ERIN. You can do this!_

"Uh, it's okay… my fault for standing there," I apologized quickly, though I didn't quite mean it. I opened my mouth to speak – despite having no idea what I was even going to say – but Tidus beat me to it.

"Hey, you're that girl!" I froze at those words, and had to scan my mind for where he knew me from. Had he somehow realized that I was the one controlling him through my PS2 on his adventure through Spira once upon a time, dictating his every move in battle, seeing his every private moment splayed on the screen?

…Wow. I didn't just think that.

"The one from the jungle, right? You did pretty good with that fiend, since you didn't have a weapon or anything. Well, except for that stick, but I don't think that counts. So I heard Yuna healed your leg up. Which means you're all better now, right? What's your name?"

One thing I had instantly discovered about this place, or, well, more specifically its people: well, Tidus talked a _lot_. More than me, and I could _really_ get talking.

"Um, yeah. That's me. I'm Erin." I recovered from my shock marvelously, if you ask me. Looked like I was already starting to get better at this 'meeting video game characters' stuff! "I'm fine now. Yuna said she could only sort of half-heal my leg, but it's starting to heal on its own… a-and you are?"

Nearly swearing at the stutter in my voice, I had _almost _forgotten that Tidus doesn't really know me and I don't really know Tidus – technically. _Almost _being the operative word. But, hey, it looked like I did pretty good for my second meeting with a fictional character! For a few seconds, I felt proud of myself for making it through the conversation thus far. Maybe I could actually make it to Luca without people realizing I'm some freak from another, well, dimension – or, like, planet… or whatever… Earth, you know – who just appeared on a supposedly nonexistent island for no apparent reason. Maybe I wouldn't have to try to explain anything at all!

"Cool, I'm Tidus. So, what were you doing in Besaid?"

…Oh, fuck.

* * *

**Heeeeyyyy, cliffy! Oh yeah. I'm mean. Keh.**

**So I've been working on other stories. That I haven't posted yet. Maybe I'll get around to posting them later, because they're awesome and I love them almost as much as I love this one, but first I want to get a BIG head start. I am so freaking slow when it comes to updates… ;-;**

**Anyway. Thank you all so much for any reviews, favorites, etc. They're all beautiful. Gorgeous, even. Love you all! :D**


	5. Empathetic

**Hey! I bring cookies! *watches reader look all happy***

**TROLLFACE. I lied. :D**

**But instead, I bring a new chapter! (And more poems. I don't mind them **_**too**_** much, but I really wasn't sure they were contributing. Apparently they are! I'm going to have to make, like, a list of them... I'm trying to make them relate to the chapters! :D)**

**Words: 2, 470 (I was aiming for 3000, but this is pretty close and I can't quite fit more in without getting preachy or overstepping my beautiful cliffhanger ;D)**

**So, yeah. This week's poem was inspired by Kingdom Hears' mysterious beginning voice...**

* * *

_**Fool's Paradise**_

_**C**hapter **F**ive: **E**mpathetic_

* * *

_Your journey begins at noon;_

_Many trials will await you._

_At times the way may be clouded,_

_But your purpose must always remain in sight._

For a few seconds I floundered under Tidus's scrutiny, though I doubt he was really scrutinizing or anything. I mean, it wasn't like he suspected me of any lying or whatever; you could tell by his voice and stuff that it was simply curiosity. Or, so I hoped. He wasn't, like, secretly suspicious of me and just pretending to be 'just curious' to catch me off guard, right?

Right.

However, that fact still _didn't_ help me come up with an excuse.

"Well, I, um… I was…" _I was… _I echoed in my head. Aha! Is that an excuse I see, hiding in the recesses of my mind? _"_I, uh, was visiting someone…."

Smooth, Erin. Because I could totally pull off having relatives in Besaid when three-fourths of these people were _from _the place. Oh, wait - four-fifths. I almost forgot Kimahri. Poor dog…lion…thing… I always forgot him. He was just… well, he was always a bit of a spare when it came to the game.

Back in my current situation; well, maybe I was imagining it, but I thought I saw Tidus's expression crumble, a flash of pain in his blue eyes. I wasn't that great at reading people, but I knew Tidus pretty well. At least, as well as you can know someone when you've played a video game starring them. I thought, perhaps, I really _had_ seen that. It would make a whole lot of sense.

"Oh, cool," he stated, giving a small smile; fake? Was he remembering his own friends or something, from his Zanarkand? I didn't know, but I felt a sudden jolt of sympathy. Empathy, really. Because except for the fact that I knew all about this place and he didn't… we were kind of in the same boat. Or was that knowledge too big a difference to make it count? "Did you make it to see them before, ah… the dingo?"

"Um, yeah. Yeah, I saw them. They didn't live far from the beach. They - erm, _she… _she's a bit of a hermit." There… there. Give this supposed friend a gender. Make a more convincing lie… hopefully make it more believable… right?

You know, I would _never_ make it as a criminal.

"That's good," he said, and the conversation slipped into an awkward silence.

"Ah, anyway. Nice to meet you, Tidus," I stuttered, flashing a small, friendly smile. I gave a wave and started in the opposite direction, forsaking my previous objective - to see the chocobos - in order to escape more hesitant small talk. I hated awkward conversations, really.

So… in retrospect, that was _not _how I imagined my first meeting with the main character of Final Fantasy X would go. I had expected to be totally awesome. Alright, not really _too_ awesome, since I tend to be horrible at meeting new people even back home, but I at least expected to have a good excuse for being in Besaid. You know, other than "Oh, I come from a world where you people are all video game characters and I know exactly what happens to all of you but I have no clue why I'm here. Please let me come with you and drag you all down because you're good people and I'm a pathetic little Earthling girl." Hell, I could have said I was _dumped there by Sin _(Like a certain blond blitzer we all know and love) and it would have been a better excuse!

Well, probably. If they didn't think it was weird that so many people had been attacked by the thing so much lately…

_I feel like an idiot, _I thought to myself, contemplating a face-palm.

As I started (Slowly, mind you) up the stairs leading to the deck and decided against destroying a few more of my precious brain cells, I wrung my hands in front of myself and considered what other lies I would have to tell to keep these people from suspecting me.

Y'know, on that note, I hated lying just as much as I hated awkward conversations.

In the end, I hesitantly decided that my family lived in Luca and my dad played blitzball on occasion - but he didn't play on a team because he wasn't good enough and he had a job in a small store far away from the main plaza. I had just concluded that my mother was a stay-at-home mom and I had a little brother named Liam when I stepped out into the salty sea air and nearly choked at the sight before me.

The open ocean.

I almost turned tail and ran right there, panic coloring my actions, but when I turned my head I saw Tidus standing behind me - apparently also heading up top and currently gracing me with a friendly smile and what may have been a puzzled look. I felt a very vague urge to apologize for walking so slowly, but it really wasn't worth it.

_Open_… _ocean_….

I gulped and turned back to the outside, the daytime shadows dimmed by clouds, keeping my gaze firmly planted on the floorboards as I moved away from the door to stand by a pillar.

_I will not be afraid, I will not be afraid… _I chanted mentally as I walked, trying to still the slight tremble in my hands.

I don't like admitting this - for obvious reasons - but… but I'll just come out and say it. If it's my parents or other family reading this, you probably already know. If not, well…

I have this _serious_ phobia of deep water.

Blame my cousin Bree. I guess she didn't mean any harm, but I nearly drowned one time when she pulled a prank on me when I was six, out on the Atlantic coast. That, coupled with the tales of sharks and sting rays and piranhas and evil mermaid hags that ate small children that my uncle told me as 'bedtime stories' when I was a kid, had me firmly against any and all swimming.

Boats, you must know, fell into that category, since only a single swell in that vast, swirling blue ocean could send me tumbling overboard to drown in the endless water below… Gulp.

But now was seriously _not _the time.

Before I could wimp out of it, I looked up to examine my surroundings, pointedly ignoring the rolling waves of blue-green outside the comfy confines of the ship.

I was subjected to the shock of my life; a shock big enough to actually make me _forget_ about my phobia for a few minutes.

Lulu... There she was, calmly standing across the boat from Wakka, staring at who-knows-what with her creepy, strangely-red eyes. Though she was a bit of an oddity in my world and even sort of strange for Spira, it was a normal sight for little ol' video-gaming me… except for one little, inexplicable thing.

She had _freaking orange hair._

_Just. Like. Wakka's._

Holy shit.

The abrupt shock of it had me reeling in itself; there was no room for thoughts like 'Huh, this sounds familiar,' or even, 'Didn't things seem kind of funny when I was playing FFX before, anyway?' There was merely the question of _why _continuously pounding in my brain.

I had thought things were weird before, when I awoke in Besaid with no recollection of how I'd gotten there and had ended up having to kill a fiend with a wooden stick… but as Lulu's crimson eyes turned my way with a sliver of a question in her face… that was when I realized that things were _far _weirder than just my sudden transfer from Planet Earth to Spira. I didn't know exactly how, but something was definitely wrong here. You know, _other _than Spira existing in the first place.

It was then that I remembered.

Do you remember earlier when I woke up on the beach, and I could have sworn there was something between trying to mess with my PS2 and arriving there? That elusive "_how_"?

It hit me like a ton of bricks.… Er, does Spira have bricks? …Right, right.

It was less of a _how _than yet another mystery. I stumbled forward a step, immediately drawing a hand to my forehead and bracing the other against the pillar to support myself as the recollection abruptly surged over me. Maybe it was overdramatic, but I honestly felt like it was some sort of attack. It flooded my brain like a tidal wave and I was left gasping for breath - figuratively, anyway. I can't remember if I did physically, but I hope not; that would be sort of weird. Not to mention dramatic.

Two people. A girl and a boy, I think. Their features were indistinct and their appearances changed very often; just a little, perhaps in hair color or height or clothing. But, even still, I could tell they were no one I knew - from FFX or otherwise.

Laughter, danger, friendship, fighting - it was all obscure, everything running together into one huge disarray of faces and emotions and stories. But I caught little flashes of events, little bits of each adventure.

That's what they were; adventures. Many of them.

The images _seemed_ to follow the boy; his name simply came to me as I stood there, baffled, sorting through the mess. Daniel. No last name; but his first was relatively normal, wasn't it? Not Spiran-y, not a fantasy name in any way…

He spent a lot of time with the girl, and much of it was spent laughing. I swore I saw familiar images as the muddle swept me by - a keyblade, I thought I once noticed, and then maybe a starship, and a green materia (_Just_ like the ones from that Final Fantasy VII movie Lyssa made me watch once), and I just _know _I saw a disc just like Earth's CDs; and _holy crap_ it all just seemed too surreal.

Lulu's orange hair.

Suddenly it was in my vision - _my eyes were open? _- and there was a hand on my back - _when did I even hunch over? _- and words were slowly reaching my ears.

"-are you alright?" It was Lulu; that _might_ have been concern in her posture, I realized as I squinted at her, but her voice was mostly level. "_You're_ the one who was attacked by that fiend, aren't you?"

"Huh…? Oh, y-…yeah," I answered slowly, grimacing at the silver sun that had begun to peek through the white-clouded sky. Lulu straightened, apparently already deeming me okay as I answered, or something (She wasn't usually the caring type, from what I knew. Did I really look that bad?). But whatever, I didn't know; I was still trying to sort through the sudden onslaught of memories - and of course, figure out _what_ the _hell_ that was and why it chose to appear _now._ "Yeah, I'm f-fine. Just seasickness…"

To be honest, I was a little worried about how easily that one came to me. Must have been that blitzball player upchucking in the cabin below. Inspiration, you know.

"You-"

It seemed Lulu was about to speak again - maybe to ask about my injury, maybe to ask me why I was in Besaid; I didn't know nor care. Because right at that moment, the ship gave a dangerous lurch - tremendously worse than any of the (as much as it pains me to admit) relatively _calm_ swells of before.

I gave a girlish shriek as my feet were knocked out from beneath me, sending poor, confused Erin to tumble headfirst across the deck. I scrabbled for something, _anything_, to hold on to, sliding across the deck of the ship which floated almost sideways in the chaotic sea. Luck must have been on my side; in my desperation, my fingers smacked against the railing and somehow I managed to grab on. I clung to the rope fence, white-knuckled, like it was a lifeline. Below me, the turquoise sea churned in fury.

"_Sin_!"

Oh shit.

* * *

So, you know, in my panicked, confused, and slightly seasick misery, I had forgotten one _extremely_ important thing about the trip from Besaid to Kilika; this stupid Spiran boat (What kind of passenger ship has harpoons, anyway?) gets attacked by an ancient megalomaniac masquerading as a mass-murdering sea monster.

Now as I dangled from the ship's railing, on the verge of crying and _definitely_ making these pathetic little whimpering noises, I had to resist the sudden urge to look out at the ocean, if only to catch a glimpse of the terrible creature Spira called 'Sin.' Through the adrenaline I began to feel sick, even more so than I had when I was sitting in a cabin that was slowly starting to smell of puke and listening disgustedly (and sort of sympathetically) to the blitzer who was causing it. Sinspawn flew. People screamed. I'm not sure, but I may have joined them; but even if I did, rescue didn't come.

Salty sea spray was making my grip flimsy and wet, even though I was clutching rope and not metal or plastic; that may have been the only reason I managed to hold on instead of slipping right over the edge, but my scratched and rope-burnt hands wouldn't be thanking anyone for it. The sweat coating my palms sure as hell didn't help me keep a grip, either. As I struggled to keep grasping onto my lifeline, I quickly forgot about Sin.

(Really, I wasn't so sure I _wanted_ to see it anyway. Something about a big-ass, heavily armored, ultra-powerful sea monster tends to make people freak out, myself included.)

If you would please ignore my current situation for a moment, I think I could hear people fighting up on the deck, and maybe if I hadn't been so focused on keeping myself on the boat, I might have noticed the screams slowly dissolving into a more determined type of silence. A harpoon shot out of the more frontward side of the ship as I tried to get a fair foothold on the side of the craft (It helped a lot that my feet were bare; the plants I'd tried to use for shoes upon arriving here had begun to unravel as I fought with that dingo – not that they'd been particularly sturdy to begin with – and when I awoke on the ship they hadn't been there at all.) I spared it a startled glance and maybe a squawk, I can't remember, before squealing as my foot slipped and I was back to dangling again.

Breathing heavily, I slowly managed to get one knee – one _measly _knee, hardly an accomplishment, but that knee was a champion if I'd ever seen one – to touch the wood of the deck, and from there, an elbow, and then a foot, and then the _other _knee, and at last I was on the deck, nearly ready to collapse and kiss the watered wood, finally _safe_ –

–and _surrounded _by Sinspawn.

* * *

**Cliffhangers. Gawrsh, I just love those things.**

**(So... a bit surprised, Hikari? I wasn't really planning on using the excuse of Sin, since it would make too many problems for the plot I have in mind, and I wouldn't look forward to _that _confrontation... but I figure Erin would think of that excuse, too... eventually. x3 It is the most obvious one, after all.)**

**Yep, I totally got the Lulu's hair idea from the first t****ime I tried to write this. (I liked the idea a bit too much...) Still trying to figure out if it's 'always been like dat' or if Lulu suddenly woke up and was going to kill someone as soon as she looked in the mirror. So... Remember the foreshadowing in the first chapter? Yeah, the plot has reared its big, ugly head.**

**It drove pretty much this whole chapter, too! :D**

**And now, I have to get started on the next one. Hoo, boy. Wish me luck, guys!**


	6. Lacuna

**Heyyy, long time no see? **

**Or not. :D  
**

**Yay, an update so soon! That would be because I didn't bother writing the next chapter after the last one. Or after this one. Yep, it's now a first come first serve basis… Does that analogy make sense?**

**Words: 2,708**

**So… notice anything different about this chapter title? :3**

**(Btw. lacuna: _noun_. a blank space; gap; hiatus)**

* * *

_**Fool's Paradise**_

_**C**__hapter_ _**S**__ix: __**L**__acun__a_

* * *

_The pain of loss threatens all; _

_Mothers, siblings, friends._

_Sometimes they just need_

_To hold on to each other_

_Through the sorrow._

**[You have 23 new messages.]**

**Monday, April 13, 9:12 AM: _Heyy, u sick or someting? Y arn't u school? _**

**Monday, April 13, 9:43 AM: _C'mon, girl, u arn't sleepin, are u? :V_**

**Monday, April 13, 9:51 AM: _Hellooooo? U lazy slacker, u ;) Txt me later, k? :)_**

**Monday, April 13, 12:10 PM: _Urrrgh_. _U playing hooky or somethin? & why the hell havn't u txted me yet? D:_**

**Monday, April 13, 12:23 PM: _Errrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin :(_**

**Monday, April 13, 12:25 PM: _Y are u ignoring meeeeee? :'(_**

**Monday, April 13, 12:31 PM: _Fine *pout* I'mma txt u l8r. TXT ME BACK, MAH BICH D:_**

**Monday, April 13, 5:22 PM: _Soooooo... WHY U NOT TXT ME BACK. Yer makin me feel clingy! :( You always anser my txts..._**

**Tuesday, April 14, 9:03 AM: _Ur not here again? Wat, do you have TB or something? :0_**

**Tuesday, April 14, 9:12 AM: _And ur still not ansering my txts! WTF ERIN? D:_**

**Tuesday, April 14, 11:11 AM: _Heyyy, it's 11:11! Make a wish, bestie! :D_**

**Tuesday, April 14, 11:16 AM: _D: R u mad at me or somethin? I even txted u 11:11 just to tell u it was 11:11! U kno I dont even believe in that crap! Cmon, dont be mad at meeeee!_**

**Tuesday, April 14, 11:21 AM: _:(_**

**Tuesday, April 14, 4:09 PM: _Soooo... did u lose ur phone or somethin? Or are u rly mad me? Whyyyyyy? D:_**

**Wednesday, April 15, 8:33 AM: _OH MY GOD, you STILL aren't here! D: Are you srsly sick?_**

**Wednesday, April 15, 8:35 AM: _Bich you better answer me or I'mma come hunt your ass down! :U_**

**Wednesday, April 15, 8:39 AM: _Errrriiiiiiiiiin! D: Anserrrrrrr meeeeeeeee._**

**Wednesday, April 15, 2:24 PM: _Did u guys go on vacation or summint w/out me? How dare u. _**

**Wednesday, April 15, 2:30 PM: _Or I bet u lost ur cell at ur granma's. In her couch. God that couch is scary, I swear I almost drowned in it._**

**Wednesday, April 15, 2:33 PM: _Errrrrrriiiiiiiiiin! :( C'mon, not even a lol?_**

**Wednesday, April 15, 3:21 PM: _So, ARE u sick? And why the eff aren't u ansering me? I've even been amusing! Your ultimate weakness! Don't make me bust out the srs jokes, I will, I swear... _**

**Wednesday, April 15, 3:24 PM: _Cmon we're all worried, Erin. u've been gone for 3 days and u never miss school! and ur not ansering anyone's txts! what's up with you, Erin? Are u in the hospital? Hav u been kidnapped? Cuz that's the only reasons u should be ignoring every1!_**

**Wednesday, April 15, 3:31 PM: _That's it, I'm comin over to ur place tonite. Ur ass is mine, bich. Teach u not to anser my txts. :P_**

* * *

Alright, so don't tell anyone. (Seriously, tell someone and I'll go ninja on yo ass. _Fear the fuckin' ninja._) I'm not known for being mushy, or even very 'caring,' and to be honest, I wanted it to stay that way. But, erm, I was _seriously _freaking out.

My best friend wouldn't answer any of my calls or my texts, no matter how many times I called or texted. I swear I left at least a hundred messages. She wasn't at school. She didn't show up to her precious volleyball practice. I even asked around at some point – most of her volleyball friends, our own mutual friends (What few there were, anyway), and even a couple of her ex-boyfriends (The cool ones that she still talked to, anyway). None of them had heard from her since last week. Actually, they all asked _me _what was up.

Then I overheard a couple of girls Erin was sort of 'half-friends' with as they were talking to each other; they were whispering _sympathetically _about how they saw her picture on one of those public 'Missing Children' boards. And by sympathetically, I mean conspiratorially (Yeah, I know some big words). Gossiping, basically.

I mean, I looked it up on the net, even; it was a really shitty picture, but they had her name and phone number and everything.

So yeah, these bitches were being all like "oh, it's so sad" but it was blindingly obvious that they didn't really care; it was just an interesting little moment in their pathetic lives, and it made me so mad.

So I kind of... ah, _yelled_ at them. Can't remember what I said, but it was something about, ahem... "Stop sitting on your asses and gossiping about my friend like the old wrinkly bitches you are." I was kind of harsh, and I said some mean words that probably shouldn't be repeated, and I think Erin would slap me if she heard what I said; but seriously, I was just _so_ damnworried about her. _More_ than worried. Not to mention, I didn't like people talking about my best friend like she was some exotic, escaped zoo animal. Or... like she was "missing" and would never be back.

But let's get back on topic. Those stupid… girls… don't matter much in comparison. Erin really seemed to be missing. And to be honest, I was starting to get a little... scared.

So I decided to pay her a visit.

It was Wednesday, so her dad was at work and her mom was probably out getting groceries or something. But that didn't really matter: it just meant that Erin would _have_ to answer the door. That or she could pretend she wasn't home... but then I'd go in anyway. I wasn't going to leave until I found out what the hell was going on.

When I arrived at Erin's quaint suburban home, I picked my skateboard up of the sidewalk and went straight for the front door. As I thought, there were no cars in the driveway; clearly Mr. and Mrs. Paisley weren't home. I jabbed a finger at the doorbell and waited, but there was no answer, not even footsteps. I swept my gaze across the upper floor windows, looking for signs of movement, but there was nothing. Not even a swaying curtain.

The door was locked, but I knew where the Paisleys kept their spare key. Erin's mom loved flowers even though she hated gardening, and she was really bad at it, too, so she had some fake plants in pots of soil around their front yard. The one closest to the door glinted in the right angle of sunlight... I plucked the key up from the dirt and shoved it into the keyhole, leaving my skateboard next to the door. Mrs. Paisley always hated it when I brought it inside.

"Erin?" I called into the house, tucking the key in my pocket for safekeeping. "Hey, Erin...? You here? It's Lyssa."

I sighed, rolling my eyes in irritation. There was no answer, but I half-expected that, anyway. She was probably in her room, playing video games or something, and her phone was probably lost in her grandma's couch and she was just down with the flu. I bet that 'Missing Persons' thing was just a fluke. It _was_ a shitty picture, after all. It didn't have to be Erin.

And she just didn't answer her door because... she was asleep or something. Yeah. Erin liked to sleep, right? ...at 4:00 in the afternoon... sure... lazy girl….

"Erin?" I called again as I tromped up the stairs, grimacing as I left a dusty footprint on the first carpeted stair. _Her mom is going to have my neck for that... _"Er_iiiiiiiiiiin_, I've been texting you a ton! You haven't answered! Did you lose your phone?"

I reached the top of the stairs and made for Erin's room. The door was slightly ajar, and no sound came from the room beyond. In fact, the entire house was silent, except for the usual hum of the fridge and the AC and things like that.

"Erin? You sleeping or something? Don't you ignore me!" I meant for the last part to sound jokey, and I severely hoped it did. But my voice shook a little. Things were quiet without me talking, and I didn't like it. So I talked some more. "Did you make a wish at 11:11 like I told you to yesterday? Or... did you not get the text? Oh, well... Erin? You there, or not?"

A few seconds passed with no answer. Swallowing with difficulty, a grimace finally overtook my hesitant grin. _Now or never_...

I pushed the door open with the back of my hand, unintentionally holding my breath...

There was no one there. The house was completely empty.

* * *

Upon leaving the Paisley home, I had gained more questions than answers. Keeping the key in my pocket, I held my skateboard under my arm and walked home, worried I would end up in the hospital if I dared to attempt boarding home as I was now.

There was something really wrong here; that nagging feeling in my gut just wouldn't go away. Maybe I was just being paranoid or something, but I couldn't believe that Erin would have run away from home or gotten herself kidnapped or something stupid like that. She usually didn't even leave the house on weekends unless she had a family thing or volleyball practice or made plans with me; and I was pretty sure that none of those applied that weekend.

But then… what? She just disappeared into thin air?

…Yeah, no.

So I was going to have to figure out what happened, somehow. I wasn't just going to lie down and accept whatever bullshit the authorities said about my best friend's disappearance. But as for the 'how'… I wasn't sure where to even start. Her parents? The police? Like they'd be any help… the cops probably assumed she'd run away from home.

Pfft. Stupid bastards. The Erin I knew wasn't like that; she had a good life. Both parents at home, good relationships, friends, etc. There wasn't even a psycho ex-boyfriend to factor into the equation. She _wouldn't_ have run away… but she _couldn't_ have been kidnapped either.

My thoughts were going in circles. A headache had begun to throb behind my forehead and I sighed heavily. Where _would_ she be, then…? There was nowhere….

Hanging my head to stare at the sidewalk as I trudged home, I had the strangest urge to cry.

* * *

Three days passed. Life went on, and it seemed almost like things were normal… to everyone but me, maybe. The absence of Erin was like… like… well, like losing your best friend. Duh.

Rumors still flew, of course. Erin was well-known amongst the sportier girls of the school, so they talked about her disappearance a lot at first. The most popular consensus was that she had run off and eloped with some college student; don't even _bother_ to ask me how they came up with that pile of shit when Erin hasn't dated anyone since this one asshole last summer, but that was what most of the school's population was inclined to believe. And then it was sort of… over. Like Erin didn't matter anymore. People still talked about her, referenced her occasionally, but once the excuse went out, people just believed it. They started to go back to their daily lives.

Her parents, well… I didn't know what they thought about the whole thing. They were probably really worried still, since they are her family and all. But…well, I was afraid to talk to them… so I didn't.

It was cowardly, especially because I really ought to talk to them if I wanted to find out what happened to Erin. They would know what she'd been doing before she disappeared, or at least where she'd been.

Which is why, at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning (Or, in Lyssa-time, approximately 9:30 AM), I told myself to suck it up, yelled to my still-sleeping older brother that I was going to Erin's, and skateboarded out of the house at a speed that would make it hard to lose my nerve. I dreaded seeing Erin's parents… but they were my only lead.

God, I sounded like a detective. Well, I'd always wanted to be a private eye, right?

It took me maybe five or six minutes to get there; usually it took almost ten. I squashed the spineless little voice in my head telling me that I should just put it off, whispering things like, "Do this _later_, you're overreacting _anyway_, Lys…" It was now or never.

I reached out to ring the doorbell, but before I even touched the decorative little button, the door flew open (It swung inwards, thank god, or I might have had a concussion).

"Oh, er, Lyssa!" Mrs. Paisley exclaimed upon catching sight of me, standing there with a dumb expression on my face and a skateboard under my arm.

"Uh, hi…"

"You….. erm, come in, please," the woman instructed, her wispy blonde hair in a bit of a disarray. Usually she kept it in a ponytail of some sort, neat and tidy and often accented by a thick, stretchy headband over her roots to hide the incoming grays. Now it was down and I wasn't sure if she'd even brushed it today, or the day before for that matter.

I set my board against the outer wall and took a few steps over the threshold, examining my friend's mother critically. She spoke again, her words careful. "Erin… isn't here."

"Yeah, I know," I replied casually, feeling a bit awkward as Mrs. Paisley repressed a flinch at that. Slowly, almost inexplicably, the two of us gravitated up the stairs, me awkwardly stumbling for words and Mrs. Paisley struggling for something to say. My next words were more cautious. "That's, uh, why I wanted to talk to you."

"O-oh," she murmured, just as we reached the end of the hall. "Oh…"

Erin's door was open fully, but I doubted anyone had gone anywhere near it since she'd gone missing.

There was a half a moment of silence as Mrs. Paisley mulled over what I'd said before suddenly she latched on to my words with a baffling amount of hope. She spoke with a frantic desperation that made me feel both sick and guilty.

"Oh! T-then do you know where she is? Have you heard from her? _Anything at all_?"

"I– n-no, ma'am,"– I winced; when had I ever called anyone "ma'am" without it being sarcastic? – "I, uh…. Well, I just want to talk. I… I really don't think Erin would run away or get kidnapped or anything," – _Maybe I'm just making things worse_, I noted hesitantly when I saw Mrs. Paisley cringe – "So… I want to talk. About what might have happened… Like, what was she doing when you last saw her? And stuff…"

_Oh shit, _I exclaimed mentally when I noticed the tears beginning to well in Mrs. Paisley's eyes, which were already sort of puffy when she answered the door. _Wrong fucking thing to say!_ I didn't have any time for damage control before the torrent was unleashed.

"I… I don't _know!_" the woman wailed after a second of blubbering, a second of trying to talk but being unable to make words past the sorrow._ "_I don't know _what_ might have happened, and that's… _that's the worst part_! Sh-she was just in her room, I could have sworn she was just playing some game that morning, and then she was just… _gone…_"

By now Erin's mom was weeping, a hand to her brow and an arm around her middle and definitely looking the part of the woeful mother who lost her child. I awkwardly patted her back, wondering if… well, maybe I should just _leave_…. I was obviously just making things worse, and even though I could be insensitive sometimes… This was Erin's _mom_. It didn't feel right to barge in here and… _talk _about it like this.

_She's suffering from Erin's disappearance just as much as I am… maybe even more so._

But even then… something didn't feel right about just _leaving _either.

"I-it's okay… Mrs. Paisley… We'll figure it out. We'll find out where she is, I promise." It felt hollow, but it was all I could offer.

Her answering surge of fresh tears nearly broke my own resolve.

* * *

**So, Lyssa's POV. You remember her from the first chapter? Or, you know, AWSD if you've read it ;D**

**Yep. I'm doing some chapters in Lyssa's POV, and _those _chapters all start with L while Erin's will start with E. Yup.**

**So, ah... don't expect such a quick update next time… this is probably just a fortunate fluke, unfortunately…. D':**

**I'm eating Swiss cheese! :D**


	7. Epidemic

**Bah. I lingered over this chapter. I don't think I like how I ended it, but it _did_ have to end. I love how quickly I've been updating lately, in comparison to how utterly _behind _I can get sometimes. Bleh.  
**

**The title ties in with the poem this time! :D (And I think I almost typed possum instead of poem, by mistake, just now.)**

**Words: 2,432**

**Onward! (I use this one a lot, don't I?)**

* * *

_**Fool's Paradise**_

_**C**hapter **S**even: **E**pidemic_

* * *

_Not all diseases come small, you know._

_Sometimes a plague will kill in plain sight._

_Not quite invisible, _

_But nonetheless unstoppable._

There was _something touching my foot_.

"OH MY GOD-" I screeched aloud, kicking at the generic Sinspawn that had stumbled onto my flesh with the terrified demeanor of a teenage girl in a horror movie. The insect-like monster tripped over its own legs into another Sinspawn, which toppled over to fall on yet _another _Sinspawn, and then I had three or four or maybe even _five _creepy crawlies suddenly seeing the weaponless sixteen-year-old as a particularly appetizing target. Perfect.

Maybe it was the adrenalin wearing off from my tango with terror (Ooh, look: alliteration!) along the side of the ship, but I was a lot less scared by this situation than I should have been. Well, I would assume I was, since I was making quite a few mental jokes and using a certain type of sarcasm I'd gained from my years spent in Lyssa's company. However, there was still the expected, oh, I don't know… fear for my life? Seeing as I was _quite_ defenseless.

The Sinspawns' little claw-thingies skittered and clacked together as the three… no, no; it was definitely four… buggies that had noticed my presence closed in. The panic began to set in as the adrenalin started to pick up again.

_Weapon, weapon, weapon,_ I chanted inside my head as I scanned the debris-strewn deck for anything even remotely weapon-like. There was nothing but water and Sinspawn and pyreflies and I took a few cautious steps back toward the railing as my personal attendants fluttered their wings with glee. _Well, martial artists say that your body is a weapon… then again, I'm not a martial artist…._

That didn't stop me from kicking lamely at the side of one of the Sinspawn.

Ahem… seriously… it _tottered. _I didn't knock it over or anything, it didn't even _stumble_; it just sort of swayed sideways a little, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then it was back to making bug-noises and it clawed at my foot and left this little scratch that _hurt like hell. _The Sinspawn's wings began to sort of flicker, like they did in-game. (I never really found out what happened if you didn't stop it, but I figured it would be really bad.)

I said some words that my mother would not be proud of as I hopped on one foot, and then I dropped into a sort of crouch, swung forward, and kicked it again, _awesome-style. _Just like I'd seen in those karate movies me and my cousins would watch. And harder than last time. _Much _harder.

This time I found out just how heavy a Sinspawn's exoskeleton was; but it wasn't exactly _thick_. There was a nasty crunch as the insect's weight kept it from being sent flying, but it definitely stumbled into the 'Spawn next to it, and I think I left a dent in it. It stopped the flickering thing and made some angry clicking noises that might have meant something in Sinspawn-speak, but obviously I couldn't translate.

I let off a triumphant "_Ha!_" just as another human being managed to reach me through the swarm. I grinned as I recognized the main character of this game, Tidus, who slayed some of the Sinspawn in the surrounding area, freeing up my time enough to look around some. I threw my gaze over the rest of the deck and saw several deckhands fighting off their own Sinspawn with swords and knives and staves; Lulu was over near some particularly surrounded passengers, actually, and Kimahri was defending Yuna who _might _have been trying to summon, and Wakka was tossing his blitzball with full force at the menacing figure of Sin in the distance (Don't ask how it kept coming back… was it magical?).

So, on the subject of Sin… I finally got to see the beast, you know. And it was every bit as huge as it seemed. The entire thing cast a shadow on half our ship, even from as far away as it was, and this wasn't even the whole Sin; just a part of it. It was _way_ bigger than a whale, which I usually related it to, and take that from someone who's actually _seen_ one in real life (A whale, I mean). For a moment my breath deserted me, but then my mind was dragged back to the present and I was forced to reply to Tidus. I think he was asking me if I was alright here.

"Well, I'm… okay," I stated after a moment of thought. I was casual for the situation. A bit awkward. Still on an adrenaline high, and paired with my apparent badassery with that one Sinspawn, I felt good for a normal Earthling teenager in the middle of a chaotic battle with Sinspawn in the center of the ocean. "For not having any sort of weapon or fighting skills, you know…" He didn't comment on that, apparently rather preoccupied with the situation.

"I have an extra here; you can use it for now," the blond blitzer offered just a bit breathlessly, sweat running down his face. I gave him this really confused expression that he didn't catch as he reached into a pouch on his waist. Was it some sort of… gun, or something? What else could fit in that little pouch?

"Holy-" I gasped as a handle appeared, and stumbled back in utter shock as Tidus pulled _a freaking sword _out of that little thing! I kept muttered questions under my breath, but they went unheard over the general clamor of Sinspawn, the ocean beneath us, and, of course, the horrified passengers. "How did that- that doesn't even… what the hell?"

Tidus held the blade out to me, and I tensely noted that it was the same one Auron gave him. The one from Jecht. _Ooh, I feel like I'm intruding now…_

But apparently Tidus didn't care about it. In fact, he gave it a sort of… _look_, as he pulled it out. (Dad issues, much?)

"…Thanks," I accepted, taking the sword by the handle and literally _dropping to my knees _immediately after Tidus fully let go of it. The crimson blade sunk maybe a half a centimeter into the wood, I swear. The little brat (Yeah, let's forget that he's two years older than I am) actually had the nerve to _laugh _at me. I took the thing with two hands, hopefully holding it correctly (What little experience I had with fencing foils was very different from this type of sword, y'know… and I had crappy grip anyway, remember?) and dragged it up out of the wood, taking up a sort of fighting stance and nodding intensely, just a _bit_ winded.

"Good luck with that," Tidus chuckled, and disappeared into the horde of Sinspawn once again.

_Well… here goes nothing? _I thought with a tiny bark of a laugh, appraising the nearest navy blue creature hesitantly. _May as well try to help… I'm stuck on this ship, too, after all._

My first stab at using a real sword was one that I'd rather not go into. Let's just say I was _very_ lucky to have enough skill to sweep my chosen target off the side of the ship and into the churning sea below. Or maybe it was _just _luck, no skill involved…

Not long after that, I had attracted more hungry Sinspawn (This time, I didn't do it by kicking… actually, I sliced one's sectioned leg when I was 'resting' my tired arms and the stupid thing told some of its buddies about my lack of skill and they decided to target me), and I was currently surrounded by three of them as wind whipped my hair into my face and my wrists ached from holding the sword up for so long. I clipped one's wing off with a lucky downward swing (God, it felt good to let the stupid sword's weight drop for a minute) and dragged the red blade back up to face the next 'Spawn before the tip could sink into the awfully soft wood of the ship. (The one I hit kind of just lost its balance and toppled over, laying on its side and twitching… I guess the wings act as some sort of ballast. I couldn't really bring myself to stab it, so I just left it there. It was harmless now, anyway… right?)

My next move was to attack the next non-crippled Sinspawn and hopefully cleave it in half before it could scratch me; I dove forward, brandishing the sword, and slashed diagonally downwards at the insect-like creature… but the thing simply skittered to the side, leaving Tidus's stupid dad's stupid sword to sink half an inch into the deck. I glared at the sword and then glared at the Sinspawn as I tugged at the blade. It wouldn't move.

The Sinspawn was laughing at me, I swear. It fluttered its wings and clacked its claw-things together in glee, I'm _telling_ you. So did its friend, the last of the little trio of Sinspawn that had tried to make friends with me. In fact, its wings were sort of… flickering, in its merriment… no, literally…

_OH SHIT MOMENT._

In a frenzy of desperation, I abandoned the sword and made for the Sinspawn. I didn't have any plan in mind; I was a little to panicked for that. Actually, I probably I meant to kick it or something… but in my moment of mindlessness I ended up tackling it.

Stupidest move ever.

Okay, so you know those little claw things I keep mentioning? Pincers or whatever? Yeah. They tend to be sharp, and they are obviously _not _something you want to come into contact with when bodyslamming one of these things.

So I rushed it, and yeah, I hit before it could do whatever came after that wing-flickering stuff. That was good news, sure. Really, it was great news, except for one thing. One of those _stupid mother-effing claws_ scraped a long, bloody gash into my shoulder and I grunted as the Sinspawn's exoskeleton was crushed beneath my weight.

Breathing heavily, I gritted my teeth and refused to look at the growing spot of blood on my t-shirt. _Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts_, I whimpered mentally. _Oh god, this was one of my favorite shirts…_

My legs felt weak and the only reason I tried to stand was because I was afraid all the Sinspawn would notice I was down and swarm over me. _Look, it's the defenseless teenage girl! She's fallen and she can't get up! Let's eat her, guys!_

Yeah, not happening. Not if I've got something to say about it, anyway.

I struggled to my knees, grimacing at the Sinspawn guts splattered over the deck and _probably _decorating my shirt as well (I hoped that mess would turn into pyreflies along with the body… I _really _did. Though, maybe it wouldn't matter; the shirt was already rather ruined.) I was just about to have another go with getting the sword out of the deck when my breath caught in my throat.

A sudden glow made me switch my gaze to Yuna as she lifted her staff into the air; a huge circle of luminescent runes appeared at her feet, knocking back any Sinspawn in its area, and beams of colored light shot up into the air. I stared in wonder, forgetting the burning of my shoulder and my foot for a moment as Yuna began to summon.

A huge draconic being shot down from the sky, painted in pastel colors that somehow appeared fierce on this otherworldly creature. It nuzzled Yuna affectionately, as though it were greeting an old friend, before turning to its target; the even more massive form of Sin in the distance.

To this day, I'm not sure how Valefor managed to scare Sin off. Compared to that titanic beast, we were like flies. No, _ants_. The really tiny kind that you find crawling on the sidewalk if you look real close. Going with that same metaphor, Valefor was like… a fly. Granted, a horsefly, but still a fly. Maybe a dragonfly, since it's a pretty dragon-like aeon, right? But yeah. How could something so comparatively flimsy (Though I won't deny that Energy Beam must pack a punch) be any threat to _Sin_?

When I played the game, I hadn't thought anything of it. We won the battle, good job, don't have to think any more than that. Now I had time to think about it, and the conclusion I came to wasn't one I liked. It was probably the same conclusion as everyone else: Sin was more focused on ravaging Kilika than capsizing us, and wasn't about to waste its time with an aeon like Valefor. Ouch.

So… winning the battle wasn't that great, actually. It didn't feel like winning, not when I got completely soaked with saltwater that _burned like hell _in my injuries and left me cold and drenched; not when Sin got away and would soon completely destroy an island town (Forgetting that in the span of two years, the place would magically become a booming port town after all this destruction.) Not when a bunch of people got knocked off the boat and probably lots of people were dead. I found myself waiting with bated breath with the group who had saved my ass on Besaid as Wakka rescued Tidus.

The two returned eventually, looking worse for wear but having survived. When they came up, they described a bit squid-like Sinspawn that I only vaguely remembered from the game, and for a while, Yuna and Co. were happy as they patted Tidy and Wakka on the back. That was until it finally crossed everyone's minds that Sin would soon be heading for Kilika. Needless to say, the rest of our time on the ship was spent in near-silence; I was not introduced to the summoner's guardians, and I didn't speak with many people (Though I was, thankfully, given a potion; it tasted like an energy drink, right down to the nasty aftertaste, but it healed me better than Yuna's magic seemed to… though I was pretty sure I would scar, anyway).

As the ship meandered slowly toward its destination, the serene island town of Kilika appeared on the distant horizon. And not long after it was sighted, a shadow rose in the seas before it.

A shockwave went through the water beneath our ship as the ginormous creature's silhouette rose above the waters near Kilika. Our boat was lucky to be out of range by now… but the Kilikans didn't have that luxury. We all watched - or in some cases, turned away or broke down sobbing - in horror and despair as the vague shape of wooden structures on the horizon quickly disintegrated into chaos.

Shit just got real, guys.

* * *

**Yep. So… I'm pretty sure Lyssa will be brought into the actual plot soon, just give it time. Not exactly sure how I'll set up the POVs… shall I switch between them every chapter, or…?**

**Hum.**

**Okay, well… hope you enjoyed the chapter! (I did. :D 'Til the end there, anyway) See ya next time? :9**


	8. Launch

**-awkwardly scampers onto screen-**

**Hello. Erm. Been a while, huh?**

**-a rotten tomato lands at the author's feet-**

**WELL…  
I have no excuse. After school started – and yeah, I'm starting high school, it's fucking scary – I've been swamped, but before that, I had all the time in the world. Just… didn't feel like using it on writing. Actually, I can't even remember what I did those last few weeks. Huh.**

**Words: 2,189**

**Read slowly. That way I can have more time to write the next one!**

**Recap **(because we so need one)**:  
**_In the last few Erin chapters, Erin received memories of a strange pair of teenagers and the ship to Kilika was attacked by Sin. She was not yet introduced to the gang because of this, and in the distance they could see Kilika being destroyed. In the last Lyssa-centric chapter, Lyssa visited Erin's mom, Mrs. Paisley, to quiet her own fears about Erin's disappearance and, hopefully, discover some sort of clue as to where she might have gone. Mrs. Paisley broke down crying about Erin's disappearance, and that is where we left off._

* * *

_**Fool's Paradise**_

_**C**__hapter __**E**__ight: __**L**__aunch_

* * *

_Launch is always the most anticipated_

_Of any planned procedure. It is_

_Where the journey begins, for some;_

_Though for others, perhaps the end_

Mrs. Paisley was downstairs, in the bathroom or something to try to fix her broken appearance. She would probably be gone a while, and I felt extremely awkward simply standing there in the hallway. For the first minute or so I refused to even glance in the direction of Erin's room, resisting the urge to poke around. Though… something still just seemed… _fishy _about the whole ordeal. I really wanted to investigate that room, maybe figure out what might have happened to make my friend vanish into thin air, even if I couldn't actually do anything.

Or, I guess, maybe I was just a bit too sentimental. It would explain the quiet urge to enter the familiar room and just… sort of _gaze_ _around_ at everything of Erin's past.

I never was very good at dealing with boredom, though, and as the seconds stretched to minutes while Mrs. Paisley fussed about in the bathroom, the idea being turned about in my mind grew more and more appealing. It couldn't hurt to look around, and it might offer some idea of why she'd just disappear like that. A letter or a note or something, or signs of a struggle. I wasn't a cop or a detective or whatever, I didn't know, but I figured that _something _would be left behind, right?

The hinges creaked a little as I pushed the door just a bit wider, and I stepped onto the tan carpet carefully. The room seemed to be just as Erin would usually leave it; bed unmade, posters and doodles taped to the wall, a calendar (Which, it seemed, hadn't been marked on since last weekend), a beanbag chair and her television in the corner, surrounded by DVD and video game cases. The entire room had a purple theme, which was odd because Erin preferred orange, but I vaguely remembered a time when she loved purple. It was so long ago.

But right, I wasn't here to reminisce… wasn't I? I shook my head, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my hoodie and taking a few slow steps into the room. Nothing seemed to be different, excluding the calendar. I scanned the room, first checking the window over the bed – firmly closed and, as usual, locked – and slowly making my way toward her video-gaming set-up on the other side of the room.

I might not have noticed it if it weren't for the way any bit of green tended to stick out in this purple room. The PS2 light was still on, even though the television screen was dark.

Well, obviously Erin hadn't just run away, then. She tended to get mad when her PS2 was left on; and since her younger cousins liked to play games on it, that happened often. I hesitated a moment before venturing toward the machine, half-considering switching the television on. Maybe she left a message or something?

…Alright, alright, so this wasn't some crappy mystery movie. That was stupid and I shouldn't get my hopes up like that.

I turned the TV on anyway.

Final Fantasy X's rich blues and pastel shades flickered into existence and I realized that Erin must have been playing this the day she disappeared. Disappointment overtook my curious expression when I realized that she hadn't left a message or anything, like I had silently prayed. Just her precious PS2, left running as the main character ran around on the screen…

Wait…

The main guy on her game – Tidy, I remember Erin always called him, but I don't really remember if that was just a nickname or what – was still moving. Not some idle action or anything, but actually _walking_ _around_ on the deck of some ship in the middle of the ocean. It didn't look like a cutscene. Would a cutscene have lasted this long, ever since Erin vanished?

"What…?" I stared in shock for a moment before abruptly turning my eyes toward the floor and fumbling around the bean bag chair. I didn't need to look very hard; there was the object of my search, the PS2 controller, right in front of the PS2 on the floor. It wasn't upside down, it wasn't wedged between the bean bag and the floor, the joystick wasn't stuck… there was absolutely no way that blond dude could be moving on the screen.

_No way…_

I frowned down at the television screen, where Tidy was making rounds, talking to people on the deck of whatever ship he was on. At the moment, he had begun to head toward a door that probably led below deck, and I frowned deeper. It was… fucking weird. And impossible.

Moving closer, I figured I'd open up the PS2 disc drive and check to see if anything was going on in there, but quickly stopped.

The only reason I didn't investigate further – _a lot _further – was because right at that moment, I heard the stairs creak and Mrs. Paisley called my name in a still rather wavering tone. I gave the television one last suspicious glance before jabbing my finger at the _Off _button of the TV, leaving the PS2 on and slipping out of the room. I closed Erin's door behind me, because it was obvious that her parents really didn't want to see inside, and right then Erin's mom reached the top of the stairs. She looked horrible, with bloodshot eyes and a puffy face, but she had clearly tried to fix her appearance some. I wouldn't fault her for not caring much anyway, with Erin missing.

Mrs. Paisley and I engaged in some discomfited small talk for a little longer before, grimacing inwardly, I told her I should be getting home – my brother might be worried, I said, but that was a lie because, knowing Owen, he would still be asleep – and made my exit within record time. I really didn't want to try to deal with saying the wrong thing and sending Erin's mom into tears again – it made me feel just a little guilty.

All the way home, I contemplated. That obviously led to quite a few falls as I missed a turn or rode my board right into a pothole, but I still couldn't shake this weird feeling, like I had run into something important when I checked out Erin's room. I mean…. it's just…

Something really fucked up was going on with that game. I didn't know what, at least not yet, but I planned to find out, because something told me it had everything to do with Erin's disappearance. Though… how, exactly, does one go about figuring out how a video game could be playing itself?

* * *

I didn't exactly get my answer, but that Monday, I definitely got more questions. Maybe even a hint, or two.

I'd been feeling like shit the entire week, even if maybe no one else had. I mean, obviously some people were worried, too – Erin had plenty of friends – but… the majority of people around the school had gone back to their normal lives. Erin didn't make a difference to them, and it just really pissed me off– but, erm, I've gone over this before, haven't I? How this was just another little blip on their timelines, and those pathetic hags don't care any more than 'Oh, how sad'? Yeah. I thought so. Right, um, anyway.

So it was just before school started, and I'd ridden the bus there so I ended up arriving a half-hour early. I had tons of time to kill, but nothing to really spend it on. Typically, I rode my skateboard to school – it was quite a few blocks away, but I didn't mind the exercise – and got there around eight-o'-clock. That day I just hadn't felt up to it. I probably would have driven myself into a ditch, anyway.

Obviously, since I had nowhere better to be and all my friends besides Erin tended to somehow get to school just ten minutes before the first bell rang, I had a choice – either the bathroom, or the library. Maybe I was a bit overdramatic, but the bathroom seemed to be for losers and preppy girls who wanted to finish their makeup, so while the library was usually filled with bookish geeks, I didn't think I'd mind sitting at one of the tables and just catching some more sleep until the first bell, and libraries were usually quiet, right? Unfortunately – or perhaps the opposite – that wasn't what happened.

"You _lost _the freaking disc?" I heard the furious whisper from the table behind me. At first, I took little notice but for the miniscule irritation at the girl's loud, piercing 'whisper.' I mean, wasn't this a library? Could she not _see _that it was fucking 7:30 in the morning and I wanted to _sleep? _But then they went on, still in a stage whisper thick with outrage, and eventually I found myself listening not because they were loud – and they really were, I mean it was just luck that I was the only one there… or maybe, for them, it was _un_lucky – but because they were sounding _very_ suspicious to my suspicious Erin-hunting ears.

"It wasn't _my _fault, Haley! My fucking mom is the one who– ow! Don't kick me!" That one was a guy, and he was better at whispering than the girl by far. At least, he might have been, had he not been so righteously indignant at the time.

"_What _have I told you about cussing?" growled the girl reproachfully. Bored, I was just about to tune them out. These were clearly their problems, not mine; I had plenty of my own, thank you very much. And then if turning them out failed, as it probably would, I would happily turn around and give them my best death glare and a threatening fist. "And it doesn't matter if your mom is the one who pawned it off, that was our only copy of the modified Final Fantasy X; now we just have the original one! Do you really think Daniel will make us another? Oh, and to think you _hid it from me_ this entire time, you arsehole!"

I froze.

"What?! Why do _you _get to cuss and I don't?"

_Final Fantasy X?_

"I don't say the f-word! That's different!"

"_Modified"? What does that mean…?_

"Oh, like that is so much better – you know what, fine, whatever! _Like I was saying_, it isn't my fault my mom sold it to some stupid fu–fricking pawn shop! _You _left it lying around in the laundry room for some reason, stupid!"

_A pawn shop? _

Erin got her copy of Final Fantasy X at a pawn shop not too long ago. I remember because she had been complaining about her old one getting scratched last month, and she was seriously ecstatic when she found another copy – even though it was used – at this pawn shop downtown. We had finished playing through the game by then, and had barely thought about it since last year, so I don't think Erin even opened this one up for a week or two after getting it, but… that was really weird.

"I forgot I put it there, okay?! Your mom is stupid for thinking we didn't play it anymore!" the chick replied acidly. I was listening intently, probably not looking inconspicuous at all, but the two were too caught up in their argument to notice my concentrated attention. "David, you do realize how dangerous that could be in the wrong hands, right? How we could probably get in a lot of trouble if some dumb little twelve-year-old gets _our _version of FF10?" the girl accused her friend, her voice growing louder. I don't think anyone else was close enough to hear, but she toned her voice down to an angry hiss and might have sent a cautious look my direction; I tried to look asleep, but who knew if _that_ worked. _Their version of FF10...? What the hell?_ "Daniel told us not to let _anyone_ else know about these discs!"

"Daniel and his stupid hacking skills can shove it, Haley!" the boy replied with vitriol. "You talk about him as if he's God or something!" The girl, Haley, took a deep breath to likely screech at him, but David continued, "Look, we'll just head to the fucking pawn shop and buy it back, all right? _Problem fucking solved._"

"It's been a _month_, David! Do you really think it's still going to be–"

But, if she continued, the rest of her words were lost in the ringing of the bell. I nearly jumped out of my seat with shock, and hopefully that looked more like I had actually been asleep and just woke up than that I had been too focused on listening in on their… _interesting _conversation.

I had this feeling. These people… whatever 'modified disc' they were talking about… it was big. And I bet it had something to do with whatever shit was going on with Erin's disappearance and that video game playing in her room. I just had to figure out what the connections were.

"And stop cussing, damn it!"

* * *

**The plot bunnies are gonna eat me alive, I swear. I got an idea for a Durarara fic recently. Ergh. Add that to my ideas for three different FF7 chapter fics, an FF7 one-shot, a ½ Prince manual, an FFX-FF7 crossover, an Ouran fic, and an eventual revamp of my Naruto fic…. ERGH.**

**But I love them all anyway :) Usa-chan, usa-chan, come play in my mind garden of writingness, all of you loverlies! :D**

**So. I'll, erm, try to be faster? I suck at managing my free time, so between homework, reading, World of Warcraft, and Star Ocean (WHICH I GOT **_**FIRST DEPARTURE**_**, BTW, IF YOU KNOW STAR OCEAN. I'M SO HAPPY. IT IS BETTER THAN SO3.) I kind of forget about writing until it's too late and I have to wash dishes and go to sleep. Or I put it off because I'd rather be reading fan fiction.**

**I didn't check this one over too much before I uploaded it – normally I go through and comb over it to make sure I like the flow and the writing style, but not much time with this one since there was a long period when I just went, "Psh, writing? Nah. GAME TIEM –drools-" so please tell me if you find something to be unsatisfactory. Like, anything. It will not insult me. In fact, you'll be wonderful awesometastical readers for telling me. -heart- And feedback on anything else is nice, too ;D**


	9. don't get too excited now

Hello, all.

I'mma go right out and say this: I'm discontinuing this story, just as I did with the original one. Not because I feel that Fool's Paradise is inadequate, as I did with AWSD, but more because I myself have changed (again; damn this time of changing that is adolescence).

I'm very proud of Fool's Paradise, but at the same time I've sort of come to despise it. First of all, OC stories are just not as interesting to me anymore, and Final Fantasy X, though a marvelous game, is just not as enthralling in fanfiction as it is in canon. Suffice to say, this fandom bores me. You probably haven't noticed unless you stalk my profile obsessively, but I haven't read+favorited anything in FFX for a long while. Though I still play the game from time to time (just recently, actually; I'm working on the Monster Arena as well as getting Tidy's damned Cadalbolg which I just can't seem to win the race for, and it sucks because my Tidus has the most strength out of any character atm, like 180, and he's stuck doing 9999 all the time instead of a more gratuitous 16000), well, I've sort of moved past doing FFX-related things on the web. Most of my time is spent on Supernatural or Homestuck now, admittedly.

I feel like it would be dishonest of me to put Fool's Paradise on an indefinite hiatus (though that definitely occurred to me, and was rather tempting) when it seems unlikely that I'll ever continue it. I still would like to apologise to those readers who enjoyed it! You're all lovely and great and I love you all vm and I hope those of you who still enjoy Fool's Paradise will forgive me.

Anyway, on another note, I've decided to finally delete the remnants of AWSD from my account. I guess I'm kind of starting fresh?

This one, however, will probably stagnate on here for a year or so before I finally decide it's time to completely move on and wipe it from the slate, so I guess if you're the type who likes to reread, you'll be able to do so for a while.

So... Toodles. It's been real.


End file.
